CHICAGO (WLS) — A Chicago Public Schools teacher, who is also a part-time Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra employee, is facing charges for allegedly receiving and distributing child pornography, according to an unsealed criminal complaint.

According to the criminal complaint, it was an FBI investigation out of Colorado that led to charges against Jaron Woodsley, a 27-year-old Chicago man.

Woodsley was arrested on Friday morning for allegedly sharing images of child pornography with another individual on the social media application Telegram last fall.

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Woodsley faced a judge in court Friday.

In a 26-page criminal complaint, prosecutors accuse Woodsley of sharing videos of child pornography with an unnamed person in Colorado who has already been indicted in this same case.

Investigators allege Woodsley “distributed at least 13 videos of child sex abuse material… and received six videos.”

A federal grand jury indicted the other individual in the case in the District of Colorado last year.

Court documents identified the 27-year-old Woodsley as a CPS teacher and a staff member at the CYSO. Old webpages from the CYSO listed him as the Steel Orchestras Assistant.

Prosecutors say Woodsley’s phone number is connected to a Telegram account, which allows for encrypted messages.

“It’s not uncommon to see it in child pornography cases, you see it more and more for exactly this reason, that it is encrypted and it’s often a favorite place for child pornographers to go unfortunately,” ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer said. “The government already has its eyes on somebody in this case, a subject in Colorado. They pursue that case. They obtain information in that case. They get the phone from that subject in that case, and of course that leads them in all different directions including in this case, the direction of the defendant.”

A director of the CYSO shared the following statement:
“We have learned that one of our part-time staff members was arrested for alleged receipt and distribution of child pornography. This alleged behavior is abhorrent and vile and completely inconsistent with both CYSO policies and the law. This individual was suspended immediately while we conduct our own investigation. CYSO staff has no reason to believe that any CYSO child has been impacted by these allegations.
“The safety of our students is our highest priority, and we are dedicated to maintaining a safe and nurturing environment for their learning and development.
“CYSO staff and community are deeply disheartened by this situation, and we will cooperate fully with appropriate authorities. For the past 80 years, CYSO has proven itself as an organization of excellence. We look forward to continuing that tradition at Lollapalooza tomorrow and in our upcoming season.”

ABC7 has reached out to Chicago Public Schools for comment, but has not yet heard back.

If convicted, Woodsley could face between 5 to 20 years in prison.

“He has an uphill battle here, just on the nature of the charges, the government has an extraordinarily high conviction rate on charges like this on child pornography, about 95%,” Soffer said. “So we’ll see what he does.”

According to the affidavit, Woodsley is a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago and a resident of the U.S. If he is convicted on these crimes, Soffer says his stay in the U.S. could be in jeopardy.