Former Teacher Pleads Guilty to Child Sex Tourism and Child Pornography Offenses

An Evergreen, Alabama, teacher pleaded guilty today to production of child pornography, possession of child pornography and travel in foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Steve Butler of the Southern District of Alabama.

Clarence Edward “Bud” Evers Jr., 53, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose of the Southern District of Alabama.  Evers was employed as a technology teacher with the Conecuh County, Alabama, Board of Education at the time of his arrest on Feb. 11, 2016, and has been in custody since that time.  Sentencing is scheduled for July 14, 2017.

According to admissions in his plea, Evers traveled annually to Thailand during the summer months. While in Thailand, Evers paid minor boys as young as thirteen years old to engage in illicit sexual conduct and took sexually explicit photographs of them.  Evers admitted that, during a 2014 trip, he photographed his victims engaging in sexually explicit conduct.  In addition, Evers admitted that he had other images and videos of child sexual exploitation on his computers and other electronic devices, as well as substantial amounts of encrypted data.

Trial Attorney Jessica Urban of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Costello and Maria Murphy of the Southern District of Alabama are prosecuting the case.  U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations is investigating the case with substantial assistance from CEOS’s High Technology Investigative Unit.  

This investigation was a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.