Cops: Child porn charges for sub teacher

A substitute teacher in the Cold Spring Harbor school district arrested on child pornography charges has been suspended without pay, school officials said Thursday.

Michael Kramer, 61, of Massapequa Park, used "an online file sharing website to promote numerous images containing sexual performances of a child," Nassau police said in a news release.

Kramer, of First Avenue, was charged Thursday with two counts of possession of sexual performance by a child and three counts of promoting sexual performance by a child, police said.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Calls made to Kramer's home phone were not returned.

Cold Spring Harbor Superintendent Judith Wilansky said police told her about the arrest Thursday afternoon and Kramer was immediately called at home and suspended without pay.

He had been a regular substitute teacher at Cold Spring Harbor High School since 2000 in a variety of classes, she said.

Wilansky added that police had told her Kramer was not charged with soliciting pornographic photos directly from children.

It appeared all the allegedly pornographic material, which authorities put at 400 photos, was taken from the Internet, not direct contact with kids, she said.

"We will be following the investigation carefully," Wilansky said. "Certainly, we've reviewed our computer systems at school and found no misuse of facilities."

She added there have been no complaints by students or others about Kramer.

Promoting sexual performance by a child is a felony which, upon conviction, is punishable by up to 7 years imprisonment. Possession of sexual performance by a child is a felony punishable by up to 4 years imprisonment.