His actions stunned his colleagues at the Pasco County School District.
In federal court Friday morning, former assistant principal Kyle Ritsema, 36, pleaded guilty to perversion.
He admitted to producing, distributing and possessing child pornography.
Producing child pornography carries a mandatory 15 year minimum prison sentence.
Ritsema could face 80 years behind bars.
Ritsema admitted he shot sexually explicit pictures, then had sex with a 14-year-old boy.
“He’s very remorseful for what he did. He’s never harmed any students,” attorney Bjorn Brunvand said.
“It’s just like a punch in the gut when we learned what the charges were,” Pasco School District spokesperson Linda Cobbe stated.
At the time of his February arrest, Ritsema was the assistant principal at Cypress Creek Middle School.
“What I knew, I thought I knew, is that he was an excellent administrator, was a rising star in the district, was well respected by colleagues. Students liked him,” Cobbe.
Federal agents investigating another school district employee, transportation manager William Napolitano, discovered texts to and from Ritsema.
“No one had any idea that he was doing this disgusting stuff on his own time,” Cobbe said.
Investigators discovered Ritsema enticed a 14-year-old boy on the internet. They had sex at least five times.
Ritsema admitted taking sexually explicit photos of the boy then transmitting them from his phone.
After one encounter, one of his text messages stated, “I couldn’t pass up that boy.”
Another said, “I still want to play.”
Investigators believe there may be more victims.
“Not that I’m aware of. I don’t believe there are any others,” said attorney Brunvand.
“We have no indication that any other students were involved,” Cobbe said.
“I know that they did investigate. They did go to schools and look at year books and could not match any of the images that they had with any students in our system. I hope to God none of our students were involved.”
Brunvand confirms Ritsema is currently undergoing psychological analysis.
He states Ritsema had issues as a child and adult and hopes the sentencing judge will take that into consideration.
Late Friday afternoon, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations issued a press release asking for the public’s help in identifying any more victims of Ritsema.
“If there are more children that were victimized by this predator, we ask for the public and parents to help us identify them and make sure they receive the support they need,” said HSI Tampa Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero.
“These young people did not know there was an adult predator on the other side of the computer and this should serve as a grave warning to our communities to be vigilant about our children’s online activities.”
The number to call is 1-866-DHS-2ICE. You can also reach out online.
If you have something that you think should be investigated call our 8 On Your Side Helpline at 1 800 338-0808. Contact Steve Andrews at sandrews@wfla.com.
