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New information in FBI's Corey Perry child pornography investigation

Posted at 10:36 AM, May 10, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-11 16:08:53-04

New details are out in the case of Corey Perry, the former Palm Beach Gardens middle school teacher who killed himself while on the run from the FBI

Perry was facing child pornography charges, and had fled to Nashville, where he committed suicide as authorities moved in.

 

According to the criminal complaint just unsealed by the FBI, most of Perry's victims were either current or former students in the Palm Beach County School District when the incidents occurred. His crimes may have started as far back as 2013.

West Palm Police began their investigation in March 2017, after an officer from the Palm Beach County School District came to them, saying they received a complaint that Perry was sending nude photographs to underage students.

In the complaint, police say Perry had sleepovers with at least three underage boys he met while coaching at H.L. Watkins Middle School.

One of those boys, a 15-year-old, told police he slept over Perry's house 4 times. While there, the 15-year-old said "Perry provided lotion to him and told him he could masturbate in the bathroom." He said Perry also let him use his computer, telling him "he could watch pornographic material." Perry also told the victim that he "could sleep in Perry's bed with him, if he wanted to."

According to the criminal complaint, two weeks after that victim met Perry, someone he assumed was a girl, using the screen name "PRINCESSLALA561", reached out to him on Snapchat. The victim, then 13 years old, says he thought she was a middle school aged girl.  

The victim says the account "PRINCESSLALA561" sent naked photographs of a woman to him using Snapchat. PRINCESSLALA561 also requested naked photographs in return, which he sent.
Police say using that same screen name, Perry asked two other boys he met while coaching, to send him nude photos and videos as well, using the apps KIK and Snapchat. One victim said the requests started back in 2013, when he was 13-years-old.

Another victim told police that on June 12, 2016, the Snap Chat application on his phone automatically accessed the contacts list on his phone. The name "Coach Perry" from the victim's contact list appeared above the words "PRINCESSLALA561" in the app.

The victim told police he confronted Perry about the link between Perry's Snapchat account and the one listed as "PRINCESSLALA561".

Police say the "PRINCESSLALA561" account was deleted on the same day that the victim confronted Perry about the account, June 12, 2016.

The criminal complaint goes on to say authorities found hundreds of images and videos of young males "believed to be nude teenage boys exposing their genitals and masturbating" on Perry's phone, as well as PRINCESSLAL561's profile picture.

The FBI says the school district was able to identify several current and former middle school students in those photos.

Two current students, 14 and 15 years old, were interviewed and said they too were asked to send naked photos to PRINCESSLALA561.

The FBI says they are still investigating, despite Perry's death.