Times staff
Thursday, November 11, 2010
TAMPA — A Brandon High guidance counselor remained in jail Thursday night after a judge reduced his bail to $90,000 earlier that morning.
Bail for Robert Frederick Murray, 54, was originally $600,000 for charges of 80 counts of child pornography possession.
Murray, a guidance counselor with Hillsborough County schools for more than 25 years, had images of children ages 7 to 12 on a computer he told detectives belongs to him, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. He was arrested at his home Wednesday.
The court ordered Thursday that, if he posts bail, Murray can have no contact with children, cannot use a computer and must wear an electronic monitoring device, according to Bay News 9.
At the hearing, a niece pleaded with the judge for a reduced bail, saying her uncle has never been in trouble and is the sole caregiver for his elderly parents.
Authorities say there is no indication the pictures are of current students at Brandon High or that Murray had looked at pornography while at school. The school district planned to hand over the hard drive from Murray's work computer to deputies.
Murray's arrest was triggered by a monthlong Sheriff's Office investigation into distribution of child porn on the Internet.
