Former Delphos teacher sent to prison

VW independent staff/submitted information

SARASOTA (FL) — A former Delphos City Schools teacher will likely spend the rest of his life in prison on child pornography charges out of Florida.

According to a news release from Florida State Attorney Ed Brodsky’s Office, Douglas Ben Sanders, 60, of North Port, Florida, was recently sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Krug to just over 44 years in prison on 40 counts of possession of child pornography. After his prison sentence, Sanders will be supervised by the Department of Corrections on sex offender probation for the rest of his natural life. He was also designated as a sexual offender and will be required to register as such upon release.

Sanders was arrested in September, 2021, after the North Port Police Department opened an investigation into two safes that were found in his home. The safes contained hard drives, printed child pornography images, and personal effects. After executing search warrants on the electronic devices found in the safes and the safes themselves, detectives discovered additional child pornography files. Over 214,000 child pornography files were found when the investigation was completed, and many of the files depicted sexual battery being committed on young children.

The hidden stash of illicit material that led to the investigation was found by his then-girlfriend, who suspected Sanders was cheating on her.

Brodsky said before moving to Florida, Sanders was employed by the school system in Delphos until the end of the 2018 school year. He was investigated during his time as a middle school physical education teacher for inappropriate behavior with female students, including filming them doing dances/stretches and “accidentally” walking into the locker room when female students were inside.  Sanders had admitted these incidents happened before his resignation pending the outcome of the investigation by the school system, and acknowledged what he did was inappropriate. That evidence was taken into account at the June 5  sentencing hearing.

“The enduring pain caused by the production of child sexual abuse material is unfathomable,” said Assistant State Attorney S. Ethan Dunn, who prosecuted the case. “When people like Doug Sanders get sexual gratification from this material, they continue to re-victimize the most vulnerable members of our society that were taken advantage of in the worst ways imaginable. Thanks to the efforts of the detectives with the North Port Police Department, those that brought this to their attention, the collaboration with Sanders’ former colleagues in Ohio, and the court’s sentence in this case, Doug Sanders can never victimize children of any community ever again.”   

“This sends a strong message to those wishing to prey on children – you will be found, you will be prosecuted, and you will go to prison,” he added.