Former Teacher Pleads Guilty To Child Pornography, Child Sex Tourism Charges

Acting United States Attorney Steve Butler of the Southern District of Alabama announces that Clarence Edward Evers, Jr., also known as Bud Evers, 53, of Evergreen, Alabama, pled guilty today to charges that he produced child pornography, possessed child pornography, and traveled in foreign commerce with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Evers pled guilty to three counts of the eleven-count indictment, and is set to be sentenced on July 14, 2017 before Chief United States District Judge Kristi K. DuBose.

Production of child pornography is punishable by imprisonment of a minimum of 15 years up to 30 years, a fine of $250,000, lifetime supervision by the United States Probation Office, and  restitution. Travel in foreign commerce with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct is punishable by a 30-year term of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, lifetime supervision, and restitution. Possession of child pornography carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, lifetime supervision, and restitution.

Evers, previously employed as a technology teacher at Hillcrest High School in Conecuh County, admitted in documents filed as part of his guilty plea that he traveled each summer to Thailand, where he paid minor boys as young as thirteen to engage in illicit sexual conduct and that he took sexually explicit photographs of boys. One of the victims, a 15-year old boy, made a report about being paid approximately $22 by Evers to engage in sex acts with him, and witnessing Evers engage in sex acts with another boy. Evers was identified through Facebook communications he had with the boy, and a search warrant was executed at Evers’s home in Evergreen on April 1, 2015. A substantial amount of child pornography, including videos and photographs of boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct, was recovered from Evers’s home. Although Evers had encrypted many of his electronic devices, the unencrypted data showed that Evers had accessed, downloaded, and produced child pornography. Evidence collected during the investigation also showed that, for years, Evers had discussed and coordinated his travel to and within Thailand with other men interested in engaging in commercial sex acts with boys in that country.

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sean P. Costello and Maria E. Murphy, and Trial Attorney Jessica Urban of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). Substantial additional investigation and analysis were provided by 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.