By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN FEDERAL COURT — A former Manhattan elementary school teacher accused of having a substantial amount of child pornography on his computer pleaded not guilty to possession charges on Thursday.
Harlem resident John Edward Thomas, 28, previously taught fourth and fifth grades at Bank Street School in Morningside Heights, Friends Seminary in Gramercy and Horace Mann Academy in the Bronx, lawyers said.
He was about to begin a full-time job teaching gig at the Bank Street School but was let go shortly after he was charged on Aug. 12 with having 43 CDs worth of illicit photographs and videos on his bedroom computer.
At the time of his arrest he was working as a summer camp counselor at the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side.
Thomas was arraigned on a one-count indictment in U.S. District Court in Manhattan earlier. He is free on $50,000 bail and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
