LOUISVILLE (KY)
WLKY [Louisville, KY]
March 15, 2024
By Matthew Keck
Just more than a month after a Louisville Catholic grade school teacher was charged with using students’ pictures to create child pornography, a lawsuit has been filed against the archdiocese.
Jordan Fautz, 39, was arrested on Feb. 2 and is facing charges that include distributing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse, distributing child pornography, and possession of child pornography.
He was a seventh and eighth-grade religion teacher at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic School.
Fautz is accused of using students’ photos to create and distribute child pornography between March 2022 and February 2024.
‘Breaks my heart’: Louisville religion teacher accused of creating child porn with student photos
The lawsuit, filed on March 7, by 11 parents and students, alleges that the school and Archdiocese possibly ignored signs that Fautz was acting inappropriately.
To begin, the lawsuit says that Fautz’s mother was business manager at the school, and oversaw the vetting and approving of employees at the time he was hired.
It goes on to claim that the school allowed Fautz to take pictures of students, along with putting him in charge of recording school masses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Investigators say that he was manipulating the pictures, which were non-explicit, and putting them onto nude bodies.
At least two of the photos that Fautz used were taken from yearbooks, according to court documents.
Louisville teacher accused of using student photos to create child porn gets indicted
In addition to that, the lawsuit says that Fautz had a secluded office, which had a private staircase and door that automatically locked. With that, he had keys to access every other area of the school, according to the suit.
Fautz also allegedly was allowed to use a “homemade” computer at the school, and refused a new computer when the school purchased ones with COVID-19 grant money.
Court records say that when Fautz was arrested, he was using his computer to distribute child pornography.
The lawsuit also claims that Fautz was crawling social media accounts to get some of the pictures of students targeted.
Outside of his online presence, the lawsuit alleges that Fautz was known for having “violent outbursts towards students.” It claims that he went as far as throwing chairs in the classroom and cussing at students.
He’s alleged in the lawsuit to have told students he would “chole them out” and “kill them.” It says that the week before his arrest, he kicked a student out of class but not before calling him a “moron” and “a**hole.” This, the lawsuit claims, the school took no action against.
Students, parents concerned after Louisville religion teacher arrested on child pornography charges
In one of his religion classes, Fautz showed students a recording of an exorcism on YouTube and told students he was an atheist, according to the lawsuit.
Before the timeframe of Fautz’s alleged crimes, the lawsuit says he invited a student to watch a movie at the school after hours in 2017 without the parents’ permission. It claims that parents complained to the school, but he was not reprimanded.
The lawsuit describes another incident in 2018 when he drove a student home without parental permission, saying that no action was taken by the school again.
As the lawsuit gets into the timeframe of Fautz’s alleged crimes, it claims he had an inappropriate relationship with a student. When the school became aware, they placed “parameters” on the student, and they were told not to have contact with Fautz.
Fautz is accused of sending nearly 200 child pornography photos and videos to an undercover cop. But the lawsuit says that more than 400 images and 100 videos of minors were sent to undercover agents.
The lawsuit is seeking damages and a trial by jury, along with others.
WLKY has reached out to the Archdiocese of Louisville, but they have not responded for comment.
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Fautz was indicted by a grand jury on Feb. 21 and is being held in federal custody. He faces up to 120 years in prison if convicted.
Fautz’ is set to appear in Federal court in May.
The FBI is still trying to identify other potential victims. Anyone with information about Fautz or victims is asked to contact the FBI at SSMtips@fbi.gov.
Victims or parents of victims can request help removing nude, partially nude or sexually exploited pictures and videos of kids and teens from the internet through a service called “Take It Down.”