Advertisement Mental health evaluation ordered for substitute teacher arrested on child porn charges Matthew Sokol taught at Harrison Middle School in Baldwin-Whitehall School District Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A substitute teacher in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District remains jailed on child pornography charges after a judge decided not to lower his $500,000 bond and ordered him to have a mental health evaluation.Matthew Sokol, 25, of the South Side Slopes, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday. He was arrested Sept. 23 after the District Attorney's Office said a search warrant was executed at his home."My client is 25 years of age, has no prior criminal record, has significant ties to the community. Since he has no record, he wouldn't be a flight risk. For all of those reasons, I thought the bond should have been reduced," said Sokol's defense attorney, David S, Shrager.Sokol is due back in court Dec. 4.The criminal complaint says that Sokol was tracked by investigators via his username "playfulteacher" on Twitter. When interviewed at his home, Sokol said his Twitter account had been suspended and he attributed it to some pictures that he had retweeted, according to the complaint.VIDEO: Click Here to Watch Kelly Brennan's report"Sokol stated that he has images of children that are in middle school age range involved in sexual acts with adults," according to the complaint. "Sokol stated that he never took any pictures of children and has not had sex with any children. Sokol stated that he does not have any pictures of his students."A detective from the DA's office saw more than 50 images of children under the age of 18 exposing their genitals in a sexual act or posing on Sokol's cellphone, according to the complaint."He stated that he teaches 7th and 8th grade students at the Baldwin-Whitehall School District and he can keep his work and personal interests separate," the complaint said. "He didn't think that it was an issue that he is interested in the same age range of children that he teaches. He stated, 'It is at home, my personal life, that is how I justify it. As long as it is my personal collection, it is OK.' He also stated, 'As long as I am not having sex with children and not taking the pictures, it is not illegal what I am doing.'"Sokol was used as a long-term substitute teacher for science classes at Harrison Middle School. Baldwin-Whitehall Superintendent Dr. Randy Lutz said the early part of the investigation indicates that the porn images do not include children from the school district.However, Lutz expressed a unique concern about the matter, as both a parent and an administrator."My seventh-grade daughter is in that class, so I have many of the same questions that parents have of me," Lutz said. "It hits home."