Former Amory High School teacher facing federal child porn charges
Jul. 5—OXFORD — A former Amory teacher first arrested two years ago now faces child pornography charges in federal court.
Toshemie Wilson, 46, is accused of giving male students cash and drugs and then recording them while they performed sex acts either alone or with a blow-up doll. He was charged with producing child pornography and possession of child pornography.
During his initial appearance in U.S. District Court Friday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge David Sanders ordered Wilson detained. He was booked into the Lafayette County Detention Center at 3:27 p.m.
The U.S. Attorney's Office wanted him to remain detained until trial. Instead, Sanders ordered Wilson released Tuesday on an unsecured $10,000 bond, pending future proceedings.
According to the criminal complaint filed last week, Wilson's inappropriate conduct with students dates back to at least 2005. He was an instructor with the Technical Students Association.
Wilson's activities only came to light after a former student told his story to a counselor in early November 2020. Two weeks later, the Mississippi Attorney General's Office interviewed Wilson at Amory High School and arrested him after a search found illegal drugs in his car. A subsequent search of his phone and other electronic devices revealed numerous images and videos of Amory High School male students in sexual positions and/or performing sexual acts.
The ensuing investigation lead to searches of Wilson's house and storage building the following May. During those searches, investigators seized more than 300 items, including video tapes labeled with sexual positions and the names of known Amory High School students. There were also nondisclosure agreements signed by Amory students.
Wilson was charged with a single count of sexual exploitation of a child on May 20, 2021. He was later released on a $250,000 bond and ordered to not have contact with any children or any of his victims.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation also began looking into Wilson's activities. Interviews with victims revealed that Wilson would allegedly pay up to $100 to film the students and that at least one student was only 16 at the time.
The videos, which Wilson called "experiments," according to court records, were shot on TSA trips, inside Wilson's empty classroom and at a studio Wilson rented next to a car dealership in Amory.
The FBI agent also noted that within the last month, Wilson had tried to contact his victims through social media.
The federal criminal complaint against Wilson was filed June 29. Two days later, he retained Tupelo attorney Jamie Franks.
