Former Valley Christian High School Employee Faces Federal Charges for Child Exploitation and Pornography

Former Valley Christian High School employee Todd Baldwin is facing federal charges for allegedly soliciting and distributing explicit images of minors. These charges arose from a San Jose Police investigation initiated in August 2023, during which Baldwin was arrested. He confessed to receiving pornographic images from several boys in exchange for money. Due to the severity and federal implications of the crimes, which involved child exploitation and the online distribution of child pornography, the case was escalated to federal authorities, resulting in FBI involvement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marissa Harris has filed two counts of “enticement of a minor” against Baldwin. These charges are based on testimonies from two minors and supporting online evidence. FBI Special Agent Colleen Dettling outlined the allegations in the federal complaint, stating that Baldwin allegedly offered a 17-year-old former teaching assistant a job in return for explicit images and videos, intending to sell them on Reddit and share the profits. Investigators found evidence supporting these claims, including records of financial transactions.

Additionally, a second minor, aged 16 and attending Live Oak High School, reportedly sent explicit images to Baldwin in exchange for payment. During an interview with police in August 2023, Baldwin admitted to receiving explicit images from multiple minors.

The investigation also revealed that on at least one occasion, Baldwin personally took sexual photographs of a teenager at Valley Christian High School and paid him several hundred dollars for them.

In 2021, Attorney Lauren Cerri successfully brought a sexual misconduct lawsuit against Valley Christian for its role in enabling then basketball coach Greg Marshall to sexually abuse a young student. In regards to this case, Cerri says that it is the job of Valley Christian to supervise the students entrusted to their care and their employee, Todd Baldwin. The fact that Mr. Baldwin was able to take photographs of at least one student naked in his office shows that obviously Mr. Baldwin knew that nobody was watching him and that Valley Christian was not properly supervising him or the student. There’s no reason that something like this should have happened on school grounds. Clearly, they weren’t watching.

Going forward, Valley Christian needs to ensure that staff are trained and that policies and procedures are established to recognize grooming signs, such as favoritism and spending time alone with students. It’s important to have proper supervision in place so employees understand they cannot engage in these behaviors without being detected, and if they attempt to do so, they will be caught.

As for the victims, digital images are permanent. Once something is online, it is extremely challenging to remove, and it can persist indefinitely. Even if deleted, the boys remain aware of the potential threat that these photographs could exist forever. This can be incredibly damaging, particularly as they grow older. While they may currently be young and immature, this issue will have a lasting impact on them throughout their lives.

Baldwin had been employed by Valley Christian High School since 1998 but was placed on administrative leave at the start of this investigation and is no longer working there. He served as the director of operations, a teaching assistant, and a sports coach.

Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to call attorney Lauren Cerri at 408-289-1417.