Former Brevard County Principal, Ricky Sheppard To Plead Guilty To Child Porn Charges

By  //  August 9, 2016

ABOVE VIDEO: Press Conference back in June with Sheriff Wayne Ivey and Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Desmond Blackburn. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Task Force and members of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office arrested 59-year-old Ricky Delano Sheppard after a child pornography investigation. Sheppard, 59, was reprimanded in 1999 for inappropriate comments and gifts to a 6-year-old boy, prior to becoming the principal at Spessard Holland Elementary School. (Space Coast Daily video above, BPS video below)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Former Brevard County principal, 59-year-old Ricky Sheppard is expected to plead guilty in federal court on child pornography charges.

Documents show that 14 movies depicted young boys between the ages of approximately 8 and 12, and a young girl shown bound by yellow rope, and all involved in sexual acts, were allegedly kept on hard drives on 59-year old Ricky Sheppard’s computers at his Melbourne residence.

In June, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Task Force and members of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office arrested Sheppard.

According to a criminal complaint, agents with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and Brevard County Sheriff’s Office task force executed a search warrant in early June at Sheppard’s residence at 1824 Clover Drive in Melbourne.

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Former Brevard County principal, 59-year-old Ricky Sheppard is expected to plead guilty in federal court on child pornography charges.

Investigators also sifted through more than 1,100 “child notable” files, and authorities say Shepard refused to talk about the images after they were found.

Sheppard has been employed by the Brevard Public Schools since 1981, most recently as the principal at Spessard Holland Elementary School.

From 1981 through 1984, Sheppard was a teacher at Port Malabar Elementary, taught at Creel Elementary 1985 through 1989 and then became assistant principal at Creel until 1995. He then went to Gemini Elementary through 2003, then to Freedom 7 Elementary as both a teacher and assistant principal until 2009.

Arrests In Brevard County: August 9, 2016Related Story:
Arrests In Brevard County: August 9, 2016

From 2009 through 2015, Sheppard was the assistant principal at Stevenson Elementary, then was made principal at Spessard Holland Elementary in 2015.

Sheppard’s arrest has revealed past misconduct while he was a teacher at Gemini Elementary in Melbourne Beach when he was reprimanded for inappropriate behavior involving gifts and comments he gave to a 6-year-old first-grade boy.

Below is a copy of a Letter of Reprimand given to Sheppard dated December 9, 1999, in part stating:

A parent of 6-year-old student in your class cites your giving numerous gifts to her son over a period of 6 weeks and making inappropriate statements to her son concerning a room at your house for this child. Your actions included poor judgment, inappropriate comments to a student and singling out a student for special favors.

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Sheppard’s arrest has revealed past misconduct while he was a teacher at Gemini Elementary in Melbourne Beach when he was reprimanded for inappropriate behavior involving gifts and comments he gave to a 6-year-old first-grade boy.