A lawsuit was filed against the Diocese of Louisville after a teacher at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic School, Jordan Fautz, inset, allegedly used yearbook photos to create child porn. Federal prosecutors indicted Fautz last month. (Screenshot: WLKY/YouTube)
The Catholic school teacher in Kentucky indicted for using yearbook photos of students and morphing them into pictures of naked bodies also had an inappropriate relationship with a student, according to a lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Louisville.
Federal prosecutors from the Western District of Kentucky last month indicted 39-year-old Jordan Fautz on charges of distribution of child pornography and obscene visual representation of child sexual abuse. Fautz was a seventh and eighth grade teacher at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic School in Louisville.
FBI agents busted Fautz distributing images on a social networking app of a nude photo collage using the real names of a minor girl between 12 to 15 years old and her mother, authorities said. Fautz allegedly used Photoshop or morphing technology to input non-sexual yearbook photos onto pornographic images and videos. The girl had on a red shirt with the letters SSM, the school’s initials, standing in front of a SSMCardinals school photo backdrop, according to the complaint.
An undercover FBI agent began communicating with Fautz on the social media app. Fautz allegedly sent the agent more than 200 of the same kind of photos and videos of the daughter and mother. This also included another student, whose name he used as well, authorities said. Agents identified Fautz through his computer’s IP address. Investigators learned he sent the images from home and at the school, the complaint said. Fautz was arrested on Feb. 2 and indicted Feb. 21.
Now 11 parents and students are suing the Archdiocese of Louisville, claiming the school ignored warning signs about Fautz for years. Local CBS affiliate WLKY reports the lawsuit was filed March 7 in Jefferson County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit reportedly alleges Fautz’s mother was the business manager in charge of vetting and approving new employees at the time he was hired. It reportedly also says he used his own “homemade” computer as opposed to using the school-issued laptop. This was the computer he allegedly used to distribute the pornographic images.
WLFY also reports that the lawsuit describes concerning behavior from Fautz such as throwing chairs in the classroom and cussing out students. He allegedly told students he would “kill them.” A week before his arrest, he called a student a “moron” and an “a–hole,” the lawsuit reportedly said. The school never disciplined Fautz.
Fautz also had an inappropriate relationship with a student, but instead of punishing him, the school put “parameters” on the student, the lawsuit reportedly said.
If convicted on the criminal charges, Fautz faces up to 120 years in prison. His next court date is scheduled for May.
The diocese said he was with the school for nine years and was fired after his arrest. It has not responded to the lawsuit.
Anyone with information about Fautz or his victims is asked to contact the FBI at [email protected].
