SPRINGFIELD, Mo (AP) - An assistant principal at a southwestern Missouri junior high has been charged in federal court with one count of sexual exploitation for the purpose of producing child pornography.
Colby Fronterhouse, 41, of Nixa, was charged Wednesday in Springfield’s federal courthouse, federal prosecutors said. Fronterhouse was the assistant principal at Nixa Junior High in September when he engaged in a series of text messages with a 13-year-old boy who was a student at the school, investigators said. Officials said Fronterhouse posed as a 14-year-old girl in the exchange and asked the student for sexually explicit images of himself.
Investigators said the cellphone used to contact the boy was a burner phone that detectives were able to trace to an account belonging to Fronterhouse. Officers executed a search warrant at Fronterhouse’s house Tuesday and seized Fronterhouse’s cellphone. Investigators said the phone contained evidence linking it to the burner account.
District officials say Fronterhouse was suspended from his school job following his arrest on Tuesday.
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