An Atlantic County man whom the State Department of Children and Families hired after he was booted from his role as an Atlantic City substitute teacher following an investigation by the same agency which found a nine-year-old student spent the night in his bed admitted he produced child pornography Thursday.
Kayan Frazier, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of producing images of child pornography, acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig announced Thursday.
Frazier worked for the state from October 2017 until April 2019, when the Atlantic County Prosecutor charged him with unlawful possession of child pornography. Federal charges for receiving, distributing and producing child pornography came three months later.
While executing a search warrant in April 2019, county authorities found an underage boy in his home and thousands of images depicting child sexual abuse on his cellphone and other devices. The pictures included ones of the boy, which were taken in Frazier’s apartment.
Frazier’s guilty plea will earn him up to 30 years in prison and a fine of not more than $250,000. He’s due to be sentenced on June 8. He’s been in detention since his arrest on July 12, 2019.
It’s not clear how he wound up with a $56,088-a-year job at the Department of Children and Families so soon after being the subject of a department investigation. Caseworkers are supposed to undergo background checks.
He was hired during former Gov. Chris Christie’s tenure.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Vondra Carrig represented the government, while Assistant Federal Public Defender Lisa Evans Lewis argued on Frazier’s behalf.