Ex-teacher who accused Tories of 'projecting' to use term 'groomers' sentenced for child pornography

A former teacher in Hawaii who once brought pedophile allegations against conservatives has just been convicted of child pornography charges.

Alden Bunag worked as a teacher in Oahu before his arrest in 2022, and after the 35-year-old pleaded guilty to felony child pornography, he was sentenced Tuesday to 17.5 years in prison.

“U.S. Senior District Judge Susan O. Mollway yesterday sentenced Alden Bunag, 35, of Honolulu, to 210 months in prison and 15 years of supervised release for producing child pornography,” according to a statement from press of the Department of Justice. “Bunag will also be required to register as a sex offender and pay the identified victims $30,000 in restitution.”

According to the DOJ:

According to information presented to the court, from 2017 to 2018, when Bunag was working as a high school teacher on Oahu, he had repeated sexual activity with a 13-year-old student. Bunag recorded the sexual activity on several occasions, which took place in his high school classroom. He later sent the videos to others, including a Pennsylvania teacher who was also prosecuted for child exploitation. In addition to the videos Bunag recorded of his former student, he also possessed thousands of images of child pornography, which he accessed from his phone on the day of his arrest. The videos included young children being sexually assaulted while tied up and in pain. Bunag distributed several of these videos to the Pennsylvania teacher and others.

But according to reports At the time of his arrest, the self-identified “socialist high school teacher” had accused conservatives on social media of “advocating for fascists” and “projecting” in messages on what was then Twitter about “groomers ” and sex education.

Alden Bunag: “Trying to tear down gender roles and subtly instill socialist values ​​in my middle and elementary students”

“People like you are what allow real hairdressers to thrive. Not being able to talk about sex education with kids prevents them from having the… pic.twitter.com/2xLojtn4hd

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) January 18, 2024

“You're acting like we want to show child porn or something, but one thing I've learned over the years is that whenever those on the right accuse others of something, it's DEFINITELY because they're projecting,” he said. he wrote in a tweet from a now-suspended account.

BREAKING: Former Hawaii teacher Alden Bunag sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for child pornography.

Bunag was very upset with the “right-wingers” in X who popularized the term “groomers”.

Prosecutors said he recorded repeated sexual activity with a 13-year-old student at a… pic.twitter.com/YHsjvOwYBm

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) January 18, 2024

“Bunag's sentence reflects the horrific nature of the crimes he committed, including against a child for whom the classroom became a place of torture instead of learning and nurturing,” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors in a statement. “Child abusers cause incredible harm to the most vulnerable members of our community, and we will continue to hold them accountable under the law.”

“This ruling demonstrates that the FBI will target those individuals who prey on our most vulnerable members of our community and will do whatever is necessary to protect our keiki,” said FBI Special Agent by Steven Merrill.

“We will hold them accountable for their heinous actions, especially when students and parents trusted them to serve as role models and not as sexual predators preying on young children,” he added.

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida, where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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