Ex-Louisville Catholic teacher indicted over altered child porn

The former Louisville Catholic school teacher accused this month of creating and distributing child pornography using altered images of his students has been indicted by a federal grand jury.

In the indictment, Jordan A. Fautz, 39, was charged with distribution of child pornography, distribution of obscene visual representation of child sexual abuse, and possession of child pornography between March 31, 2022, and February 2, 2024. He is scheduled to appear for an arraignment on Feb. 26.

Fautz was arrested in early February on federal charges and faces up to 120 years in prison if convicted.

He appeared in court in downtown Louisville on Feb. 6, with family members sitting on one side of the room and several teenage girls, many wearing school uniforms, on the other end.

During that hearing, his attorney Frank Mascagni said his client planned to plead not guilty and urged U.S. Magistrate Judge Regina Edwards to allow him to be released from custody and instead go on house arrest.

Mascagni argued his client had no criminal record and would have better access to his medications — he was previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the attorney said — along with mental health professionals he's been seeing for the past two years. He added the charges against Fautz, who taught seventh- and eighth-grade classes at St. Stephen Martyr School at the time of the arrest, did not involve solicitation or inappropriate physical contact and that he did not constitute a legitimate danger to the community.

A. Spencer McKiness, prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office, pushed back. The charges against Fautz are "deeply troubling" and have reverberated in the community, McKiness told the judge, and the allegations involve dozens of students who attend St. Stephen Martyr, where he'd worked for nine years as a teacher and maintenance employee before being terminated after charges were filed.

Some of the victims still haven't been identified by authorities, McKiness said, and accusations in his charging document citing an FBI investigation found he'd distributed phonographic images of the students with their real names and the name of their school clearly visible.

"In addition to his online danger, Mr. Fautz is a real-life danger," McKiness said in court. "His release would really put his victims and their families in some type of danger."

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The prosecutor also said Fautz had at one point been reprimanded by the school on allegations of inappropriate contact with a student. Cecelia Price, spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, told The Courier Journal the teacher was found to have driven alone in his car with a child on one occasion in October 2022, which violates rules for faculty.

"The situation was investigated, and it was determined that nothing problematic occurred. However, as a violation of our safe environment policies, Mr. Fautz received the appropriate warning," Price said. In a statement following his arrest last week, the archdiocese said Fautz will not return to St. Stephen Martyr and the school and parish are fully cooperating with the investigation.

The judge agreed with the U.S. Attorney's case. After a 30-minute recess, Edwards ruled Fautz should remain in custody as he could still be considered dangerous.

Fautz faces federal charges of distributing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse and distributing child pornography. The FBI's investigation tracked an IP address to him that was used to send images of child pornography involving spliced photos of students at St. Stephen Martyr along with at least one adult to an undercover agent, according to his charging document.

The school hosted a meeting for families over the weekend alongside the FBI, which is still seeking to identify possible victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact the bureau at ssmtips@fbi.gov.

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com. Reach reporter Rachel Smith at rksmith@courierjournal.com or @RachelSmithNews on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jordan Fautz, ex-teacher charged in child porn case, sees indictment