ATLANTA – (WAOK/AJC)  Police say a teacher at a private Atlanta school has admitted to possessing child pornography.    Federal authorities say Joey Villemez is part of a multi year investigation of a Canadian company that was allegedly producing child pornography and distributing it through the U-S postal service and on the internet.  Villemez,  who for the last 7 years taught arts at the prominent private school,   told authorities after a search of his Smyrna home,  that he purchased the material that included,   naked pictures of young boys and saved some of the images on his home computer.    He is scheduled for a hearing on Thursday,   and has been fired from his job.

The school’s headmaster,  Fred Assaf wrote a letter to parents,   informing them of the incident.   “These images came to light as a result of a multi-year federal investigation, which we learned about today,” Pace headmaster Fred Assaf said in the letter. “We are cooperating with federal agents as they continue their investigation. I want to stress to you that, according to federal investigators, [the teacher] has not involved any current or former Pace students in this situation, and there is no evidence of inappropriate physical contact between [the teacher] and Pace students or other children,” Assaf said in the letter.