Twin Brothers, Both Former School Sports Coaches, Arrested on Suspicion of Possessing Child Porn
Twin brothers who coached at San Jose, California, area schools have been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography, PEOPLE confirms.
Clinton and Clifford Pappadakis, 47, were taken into custody seven days apart. Police say the cases are so far unconnected and both arrests came after tips from the public.
“One tip was from a parent while the other tip was received through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” San Jose Police Department Det. Sgt. Brian Spears tells PEOPLE. “It is very unique to have twins involved in the exact same type of crime and arrested in two different time frames.”
Police arrested Clinton, a former track and field coach at Oak Grove High School, on February 20 for felony possession of child pornography.
His brother, Clifford, a former physical education teacher and cross country coach at Willow Glen Middle School, turned himself into police on February 14. He is now charged with possessing/controlling matter depicting a person under the age of 18 engaging in or simulating sexual conduct and seven counts of annoying or molesting a child.
The brothers could not be reached for comment.
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Clifford is scheduled to be arraigned on March 21. His attorney Steve Clark declined to comment Monday.
“They are both out of jail but it eliminates their activities from being around these children who often thought of these guys as mentors,” says Spears. “Who else can you trust if you can’t even trust the people that you depend on?”
Spears suspects the twins knew of each other’s alleged predilection for possessing child pornography.
“I suspect they did because this culture is very underground,” he says. “You have to build trust with one another to disseminate and share. I am going to assume they have but I’m still working on our facts.”
Parents expressed concerns about Clifford last September after allegedly seeing him taking photographs of female students during swim practice, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
“At events he would focus on, rather than taking pictures of the athletes in action which he did, the parents were keen enough to notice that he was focused on other things just as well,” Spears says. “This is what led to this. I applaud the parents for taking that initial action which led us to opening the floodgates on this case.”
San Jose police searched Clifford’s home in the fall and allegedly found multiple images of child pornography, leading to his arrest.
After the September incident, Clifford was placed on administrative leave and was terminated on December 31, Peter Allen, a spokesperson for San Jose Unified School District, tells PEOPLE.
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Clinton was reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for “suspicious activity” last September, police say.
On February 20, police searched his San Jose home and found child pornography on multiple devices. He was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail.
Spears says the investigation is ongoing and police are still combing through the twin’s computers.
“One of our concerns is the potential for being a hands-on offender because they work with young female athletes we want to go back to see if any of those athletes have had their trust violated,” he says. “Both twins are into photography for their teams and so we grow more and more concerned with what are their ulterior motives behind what they are doing. It is still ongoing at this point.”
“We are not done by any means,” adds Spears. “You just never know where this will go.”
