Scottsdale middle school teacher accused of sexually exploiting minors

Cocopah Middle School teacher accused of child sex charges

Michael Gill, 53, is accused of two counts of sexual exploitation of minors.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - An Anthem man who once worked for a middle school in Scottsdale has been arrested for alleged sex crimes involving minors.

What we know:

According to court documents, 53-year-old Michael Patrick Gill was arrested on Nov. 18, and is accused of two counts of sexual exploitation of minors (A.R.S. 13-3553A2).

Per the website for Cocopah Middle School, Gill was a language arts teacher for the school at the time of his arrest. 

Dig deeper:

An investigation into Gill began on Oct. 18, according to investigators, when Yahoo submitted a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), alleging that one of their users was found to have what is believed to be six images of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

Court documents contain lurid descriptions of the images in question.

On Nov. 18, officials with Yahoo reportedly submitted another report to NCMEC, stating that they have likely identified the suspect as Gill. Eventually, Gill was arrested.

Michael Patrick Gill (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)

Police said after Gill was advised of his Miranda rights, he revealed that he had struggled with alcoholism for most of his life, and often gets intoxicated before going online to look up various videos, including videos that contain CSAM.

"Defendant advised he does so because of the guilty feeling it gives him, and defendant admitted to viewing CSAM of minors he believes to be around the age of the students he teaches," read a portion of the court documents.

Gill, according to police, has a minor daughter who lived with him. They said DCS was advised of Gill's arrest, and in an interview they did with the daughter, no disclosures were made.

Local perspective:

Cocopah Middle School is part of the Scottsdale Unified School District. We have reached out to officials with SUSD for comment on this matter.

What's next:

A judge has set a $250,000 cash-only bond for Gill. Should he mail bail, he will be subjected to electronic monitoring. A number of other release conditions were also set, including a ban on any contact with minors, with no exceptions.