A Clay County school bus driver is facing 13 child pornography charges after an investigation in May found he had photographs of children performing sex acts in his possession, according to a Clay County arrest report.
Marion Keith Nichols, 56, who ran as a write-in candidate in the 2016 superintendent election in Clay County, was arrested Wednesday at his Green Cove Springs home, deputies said.
He is facing 13 felony counts related to possessing photographs of a sexual performance by a child. He was arrested and booked into the Clay County Jail.
“This type of crime will not be tolerated. We have made several arrests involving explicit images of children. My detectives often work closely with Homeland Security Investigations on child exploitation cases. This is a serious problem and we are cracking down on those who commit heinous acts on our kids,” Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels wrote in a news release.
The district confirmed Nichols is a school bus driver for Clay County.
According to Nichols' arrest affidavit, a Clay County Special Victims Unit detective received a cyber tip that Nichols might be in possession of child pornography.
The detective interviewed Nichols on May 26, but the content of that interview was redacted from the affidavit.
The affidavit indicated that the day after the interview, the detective went through the trash at Nichols' home and found electronic devices and mail that led to more electronic searches, which turned up images that a child protection team doctor determined were child pornography.
According to a news release from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Nichols’ arrest is the latest of at least five this year involving child exploitation in the county. The accused perpetrators ranged in age from 21 to 39.
