Penalty for a Fall River teacher caught with child pornography? 10 months

Back in May of 2020, Fall River Reporter reported on a Fall River teacher who was arrested and charged with one count of possession of child pornography. B.M.C. Durfee teacher Nathaniel Jezak was first placed on administrative leave after the school resource officer requested Fall River Police issue a forensic examination of Jezak’s personal cellular device. Fall River Herald News also reported on the arrest, including details about what was found on Jezak’s phone.

The well-liked high school teacher was found to be in possession of disturbing images of what appeared to be high school-aged minors engaged in sex acts with adults, videos of adults engaging in sex acts with children as young as 4 or 5 years old as well as videos of Jezak himself masturbating to pictures of underage girls on a tablet.

But according to court documents obtained by Fall River Reporter, Jezak, who had no prior criminal history and was living with his parents in Fall River at the time of his arrest, was sentenced to 18 months in the Bristol County House of Correction with only 10 months to serve. Jezak was not required to register as a sex offender and was placed on three years probation, which ends November of next year.

According to Massachusetts General Law, it is illegal to possess any visual material that depicts a child engaging in a sexual act. Penalties for the first offense include: Up to 5 years in state prison, or up to 2 ½ years in jail or house of correction, and/or. $1,000 to $10,000 in fines.

This past December, a Pennsbury High School teacher was arrested and charged with having over 2000 images related to child pornography in his possession and this month, a Florida teacher was charged with the same after uploading pictures from his IP address.

As far as Jezak, he completed his sentence and has remained local, working in Westport.