Child-porn arrest of a Miami Beach educator started with a ‘room’ flagged in Arizona

An undercover agent monitoring a “room” in which users streamed child porn led to the arrest of a Miami Beach assistant principal last week, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

Don Clippinger, an assistant principal at Fienberg-Fisher K-8 Center, was arrested last Tuesday on a charge of “access with intent to view” child pornography. He posted a $200,000 bond on Thursday.

More charges for child pornography possession might be ahead — the complaint also claims Clippinger’s computer contained a file named “diaz 2010-pthc baby raaamat 10.mp4.” Investigators say “pthc” often stands for “pre-teen hardcore.”

The complaint says law enforcement’s path to Clippinger’s Miami Shores door began with an undercover agent in Phoenix. That agent logged onto an application for which the complaint used the pseudonym “Application A,” a favorite video conferencing software for child-porn viewers.

On at least three occasions in November 2015, the agent saw videos of child pornography streamed to members in a “room” on “Application A.” In the same room, “666perv” streamed a video of himself from neck to upper legs, nude, sitting in a black office chair and appearing to masturbate.

The complaint says subpoenaed records from “Application A” and AT&T tracked the IP address of “666perv” to Clippinger. Arresting authorities said Clippinger told them the screen stills of “666perv” were him and that he was in the “Application A” meeting room when child pornography was being streamed, according to the complaint.

Clippinger told law enforcement he usually used “Application A” in the morning, and sometimes in the afternoon.

In court last week, his attorney did not discuss details of the case but put in a good word for his client.

“Our position is that we ask the community to remember the decades of service that Mr. Clippinger has given the community through Miami Dade schools,” attorney Michael Davis said after the hearing.

Another of his attorneys, Ben Kuehne, told reporters after a bond hearing: “Don is a good person who has a long history, a positive history.”

Miami-Dade Public Schools has taken steps to terminate Clippinger, who is not permitted to work at the school in the meantime.

.

This story was originally published February 6, 2017 at 9:23 AM with the headline "Child-porn arrest of a Miami Beach educator started with a ‘room’ flagged in Arizona."