Transcript:

Erin Coleman: News at 6:00 p.m. Federal prosecutors have dropped child porn charges against a former local middle school teacher. Investigative reporter Aaron Diamant is live at the federal courthouse downtown, and Arron, you spoke exclusively with that man now working to repair his reputation.

Aaron: And this is where, until recently, William Kimbrell of Covington was scheduled to stand trial on those child porn charges. Prosecutors recently dropped those charges after his lawyer dug up new evidence, who now has a warning for anyone who uses so-called peer-to-peer software to search for things online.

William: I’ve worked hard to build my reputation over the years, and you know, in just a matter of minutes, it was simply destroyed.

Aaron: Federal child pornography charges blew up William Kimbrell’s life early last year.

William: I had no idea what was going on, and I immediately felt that it could be a mistake.

Aaron: But, this indictment followed by a scathing press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office claimed that analysis of Kimbrell’s home computer found remnants of files on the computer and was able to determine that Kimbrell had accessed child pornography on the internet from October to December 2013, which includes the period that he was working as a teacher. Kimbrell quickly resigned from the Barrow County School system, but always maintained his innocence.

William: I didn’t do this. I’ve never done anything like this, and I never will. It’s just not who I am, and anybody that knows me, knows that.

Aaron: Recently, just days before trial, federal prosecutors suddenly dropped all charges.

Page: I think it’s the second time I’ve had this happen in twenty years.

Aaron: Attorney Page Pate told us his client doesn’t deny using peer-to-peer software to access legal adult content and music files online, as for those so-called file remnants on Kimbrell’s computer that got the feds attention.

Page: It is entirely possible, we’ve seen this in other cases, where you’ll be searching for something legal, and you’ll get something illegal. And at that point, you can’t just delete it off the computer. It doesn’t go away.

Aaron: And one cyber-security expert told us today that amateur users should steer clear of these peer-to-peer sites for a long list of security and safety reasons. Meantime, the U.S. Attorney’s office here in Atlanta declined our request for a comment on this story. We’re live in downtown Atlanta tonight. Aaron Diamant. Channel Two Action News.