A former Burbank elementary school teacher already facing state sex-crime charges was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly using a 15-year-old ex-student to produce child pornography, prosecutors said Friday.
Thursday's indictment accuses Sean David Sigler, 53, of Burbank, of 11 counts, including obtaining custody and control of a minor with intent to produce child pornography, production of child pornography, enticement of a minor and possession of child pornography.
Sigler had been arrested and charged earlier this month by the U.S. Attorney's Office with a single count of producing child pornography.
Prosecutors claim Sigler used his position as the girl's former teacher to gain her trust, then "exploited that trust to gain sexual access" to her. He allegedly brought the girl, then 15, to his home on multiple occasions, gave her alcohol and pills and then photographed sexual activity between them.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, investigators found numerous photos and images of his sexual acts with the girl, along with thousands of child-porn images of unknown minors, non-pornographic photos of young girls in his classroom and images he had obtained from former students' social media accounts.
An arraignment date for Sigler has not yet been set. According to prosecutors, the charge of obtaining control of a minor to produce child porn carries a sentence of 30 years to life in prison. Producing child porn carries a sentence of between 15 and 30 years, the enticement charge can lead to 10 years to life behind bars, while possessing child porn carries a sentence of up to 10 years.
Sigler was arrested in January after the ex-student accused him of engaging in inappropriate sexual contact with her when she was 15. He faces almost two-dozen felony charges including multiple counts of using a minor for sex acts and unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under 16, and one count of possessing over 600 images of child pornography, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
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Sigler worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District from March 1998 to June 2016, and then began teaching at Bret Harte Elementary School in Burbank, authorities said. He was placed on leave from his job after his arrest, and a district spokeswoman said he is no longer employed by the Burbank Unified School District.
