FBI Child Exploitation Task Force arrests Bethel elementary school principal

Gladys Jung Elementary School Principal Chris Carmichael was arrested and released into federal custody on Dec. 11. Photo credit Petra Harpak / KYUK

Gladys Jung Elementary School Principal Chris Carmichael has been arrested in Bethel.

The FBI Child Exploitation Task Force, which investigates online predators, made the arrest early Wednesday morning with Alaska State Troopers and Bethel Police Department. Steven Forrest, the FBI Special Agent in the Anchorage Field Office, says charges will be filed late Wednesday evening or the next day. He didn’t give any more details about the charges or what led to Carmichael’s arrest.

Lower Kuskokwim School District Superintendent Dan Walker says he was shocked when he got the call from FBI agents last night.

“We were served with a search warrant at 9:45 p.m. last night,” he said. “That is the first that we had heard about any sort of investigation.” 

He says agents seized Carmichael’s computers from his office at the school. As concerned parents have called the district, Walker has been repeating what FBI agents told him.

“Law enforcement has told us that no students are in danger,” Walker said.

The superintendent says Carmichael has worked at LKSD since 2000 and served as principal at Gladys Jung since 2014.

Carmichael was remanded to the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center between midnight and 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 11, and then released into federal custody. 

This is a developing story: check back for updates.

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