HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Carl Philip Herold, charged with multiple counts of sodomy and child sex abuse along with his domestic partner, was found dead of an apparent suicide in a Clay County jail last night.

Herold, 33, was being transported by U.S. Marshals from the Madison County Jail to New York last week to face federal child pornography charges.

He was found dead last night, hanged in his cell, his attorney Adam Bollaert said this afternoon. Herold was scheduled to appear in federal court in Syracuse on Nov. 21.

Bollaert said today that Herold had been transferred by the U.S. Marshals from the Madison County Jail last week. Herold was taken to a federal holding facility in Cullman and transferred with Clay County, which also houses federal prisoners, sometime over the weekend.

Bollaert said he won't know if Herold killed himself until he sees the coroner's report.

"It's really shocking to me, when I met with Mr. Herold last week, in Cullman County, he had great spirits, he seemed up and was ready to continue fighting this case.

"So, we don't understand what happened."

Madison County Assistant District Attorney Jason Scully-Clemmons, who was prosecuting Herold, said he learned of Herold's death today.

"My reaction to it, ultimately, is I wish that Carl Herold had been brave enough to face justice in Madison County rather than doing what he did," Scully-Clemmons said. "Today above all else, I'm sad for the victim in this case, as I have been all along."

Herold was a popular online computer class teacher when he was arrested in November 2013 on charges involving his minor son. Charles Walker Dunnavant, who lived with Herold and the child on the 3000 block of Lakewood Drive in Huntsville, was arrested in December.

The two men were indicted on a combined 30 counts earlier this year, including 18 counts against Herold. Herold was indicted on six counts of conspiracy to commit sodomy, four counts of sodomy, three counts of sexual abuse of a child under 12, three counts of complicity, aggravated child abuse and conspiracy to commit sexual abuse.

Herold, who'd moved to Huntsville from New York, was alleged to have kept the child a virtual prisoner for eight months, before his arrest.

Herold denied those allegations following a hearing in December, where his bond was raised to $1 million cash. Both men have been held in the Madison County Jail. Herold said the child had turned 9 on the Space Mountain ride at Disney World in Orlando.

The charges against Herold originally included child pornography production and distribution counts, but those charges were dropped locally and prosecutors suggested they would be filed by another agency and possibly in other jurisdictions.

Herold had been given a court-appointed attorney by a Madison County judge, but filed notice with the court in June that the Mississippi-based Bollaert would represent him.

Herold told Judge Chris Comer that Bollaert knew he didn't have the ability to pay him.

A third defendant, Mark Bedwell, was also indicted on multiple related counts, but he does not live in the U.S. and has not been arrested here.