A tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about child sexual abuse materials led to the arrest of a former Academy District 20 educator, court documents obtained by The Gazette reveal.

Theodore Mendoza, 33, worked as a special education behavior tutor from August until February at 16 D-20 locations, including elementary, middle and high schools, according to a letter sent to the district’s parents and staff on April 10.

The locations Mendoza had access to students were:

• Air Academy High School
• Aspire Learning Academy
• Aspen Valley High School
• Bridges Program
• Discovery Canyon Campus
• Douglass Valley Elementary School
• Eagleview Middle School
• Fronthills Elementary School
• Frontier Elementary School
• Rampart High School
• Ranch Creek Elementary School
• Rockrimmon Elementary School
• The da Vinci Academy
• Village High School
• Village Middle School
• Woodmen-Roberts Elementary School

Mendoza appeared in an El Paso County courtroom Friday on three counts of sexual exploitation of a child. As of Friday afternoon, he had not posted the $150,000 bond set after his arrest on April 9.

Colorado Springs police began their investigation into Mendoza after obtaining a tip at the end of May that Mendoza’s Snapchat account allegedly sent child sexual abuse materials on May 23.

In August, a search warrant was sent to the social media company for the video file, which the detective viewed on March 12, according to court documents. It is unclear in Mendoza’s partially redacted arrest affidavit why the detective did not view it until several months after receiving it.

The video and account information provided by Snapchat led police to obtain another search warrant on March 17 for the social media company of numerous “target identifiers.” Court documents show that Snapchat provided 50 gigabytes of data to investigators on April 2.

The files were a mix of “normal” and sexually explicit media files along with spreadsheets, including one that provided “the following subscriber information,” which is completely redacted. Mendoza allegedly possessed around a dozen videos of child sexual abuse and traded those materials with others on Snapchat.

It is unknown whether the alleged crimes occurred during his employment with D-20, as no unredacted dates show he did so. However, the CSPD detective wrote in Mendoza’s arrest affidavit that any children he may be working with or around are “at a higher risk of being victimized.”

Mendoza is scheduled to appear in court May 12 for his preliminary hearing.