JANESVILLE — The Janesville school board on Tuesday voted to fire a Franklin Middle School sixth-grade teacher who’s been jailed on 10 counts of child pornography possession.
Adam Teal
Adam Teal was initially placed on paid administrative leave in September. In mid-October that was changed to unpaid leave.
Teal’s employment with the district will be terminated, retroactive to Oct. 14, school district officials said.
Teal, 33, who during an investigation expressed to an undercover officer an interest in sexually exploiting elementary and middle school-aged children, was arrested and charged in Rock County Court in September with posting a nude photo of a family member online, without their consent. The charge, capturing an intimate image without consent, is a felony.
On Oct. 17, the 10 child pornography charges were added. Each count is a Class D felony in Wisconsin that carries a fine of up to $100,000 and 25 years in prison, or both. Teal faces a mandatory sentence of at least 3 years in prison.
Teal remains in custody at the Rock County Jail, the jail confirmed Tuesday night. He has waived his preliminary hearing in Rock County Circuit Court. His arraignment is now scheduled for Nov. 13 at 3 p.m., before Commissioner Mason Braunschweig.
According to a criminal complaint, evidence that led to the 10 child pornography possession charges was gathered from Teal’s seized cell phone and social media accounts.
Teal’s cell phone was seized upon his arrest and forensically examined by the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation Digital Evidence Unit, which flagged more than 4,000 items as possible child sexual abuse material.
A detective reported identifying at least 100 files as child pornography, stopping the count once he reached 100.
The complaint describes specific video files found, dating from December 2024 to March 2025, involving children estimated to be between the ages of 3 months and 12 years old in sexually explicit situations with adults. Material depicting bestiality was also located.
Search warrants executed on Teal’s social media accounts revealed additional details.
On a Kik account, Teal identified himself multiple times as a teacher. In one group chat, he reportedly expressed a desire for incest.
He told another Kik user that he taught sixth-grade and expressed a desire for his students to engage in sexual acts.
Other Kik conversations showed Teal discussing the purchase of child pornography.
On a Snapchat account, multiple images of Teal’s genitals were located that appeared to have been taken in a classroom setting.
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