The investigation started with an anonymous tip to authorities days ago. By Wednesday afternoon, sheriff's detectives felt they had enough information to make an arrest. The teacher will be charged with felony child endangerment and possession of child pornography.
Michael Edmondson, 32, is a teacher in the Rialto Unified School District, a position he's held for eight years. He teaches social studies at W.H. Frisbie Middle School.
But Wednesday, the school day ended with his arrest. Edmondson is in jail on $100,000 bail.
Edmondson is accused of providing drugs to at least one student, and asking that student for pictures and video of the student's genitals.
The alleged crimes took place between October 2010 and February 2011. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department says none of the alleged crimes occurred on campus. They say it all happened at the teacher's home in Highland.
"There is only one known victim at this time, a teenaged male. However, the investigators said that the possibility exists that there may be other victims," said Cindy Bachman, spokeswoman for the department.
All the school district would say about Edmondson's status as a teacher is that he's currently on leave.
"A lot of people have opinions when something like this happens, but it's very important to focus on the truth, and then when justice prevails we will know, but do we take these allegations seriously? This is not something that happens in Rialto Unified often. Yes, it's an isolated incident. Yes, we take these allegations extremely seriously," said Syeda Jafri, director of communications for the Rialto Unified School District.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Dept. at (909) 387-3615.
