(FARGO) — A Fargo man is facing seven felony charges, including six Class C Felonies for Possession of Certain Materials Prohibited.
In documents filed in the Cass County District Court on Wednesday, the crimes were laid out against 39-year-old David George, who was employed as the principal at Independence Elementary School in West Fargo. He has since asked to submit his resignation to West Fargo Public Schools.
Charging documents allege that a Cybertip was filed on June 10, 2023, with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), by the social media platform Instagram, involving George. The NCMEC sent the tip to the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation for investigation on July 13, 2023.
Charging documents state a conversation between two individuals, one being George, involved asking for photos and videos of boys age four to 10 years old. A further investigation found that a user on Instagram received “several images of child sexual abuse material,” the court documents state.
Authorities obtained a search warrant for George on August 14.
When asked about an image of a male child with a tan line, George replied that he stated he had taken the photo and sent to his wife only. When asked about it being uploaded from an IP address at his home, George had no explanation. When asked about a storage platform called Mega, which authorities state, in court documents, is a ‘common platform for individuals seeking to obtain or share files of child pornography utilize,” George originally stated that he did not know what it was, but later admitted that he had downloaded it “when they had run out of storage space and thought it was in Russia.”
George has been charged with one Class A Felony of Promoting or Directing An Obscene Sexual Performance by a Minor, a Class A Felony, along with the six Class C Felonies of Possession of Certain Materials Prohibited. He is still in custody at the Cass County Jail.
His preliminary hearing is set for September 20 at 9 a.m. in the Cass County District Court in Fargo.
