BELLEFONTE — The former head preschool teacher of a Bellefonte-area day care is accused of taking explicit photos of her students and sending them to an online contact.

Shannon M. Ishler, 44, of Bellefonte, was charged with felony counts of producing child sexual abuse material, sexual abuse of children, unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility, along with a misdemeanor charge for production of obscene materials, after allegedly sharing nude photos of children in her care at Kid’s Court Child Care and Learning Center’s Benner Township location.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by state police, officers from the Pennsylvania State Police Hollidaysburg Crime Unit and State College Borough Police met with Kid’s Court staff about a series of threatening messages the day care received on Facebook. Among the messages, which included threats to “damage the school and kill some kids” if employees did not cooperate with demands, were explicit photos of three young children with their torsos and genitalia exposed.

Using objects visible in the background, staff confirmed that the photos originated from one of the daycare’s locations. The area where the photographs were purportedly taken was restricted to employees only.

During the investigation, Ishler was interviewed and allegedly admitted to communicating with a person she met on social media via WhatsApp. Although she denied recent contact with the individual, a search of her phone showed otherwise, according to the affidavit.

The investigation determined that the number linked to the online actor matched the unique account identifier from the Facebook account that sent the threats. Although Ishler described the user as a friend living in Texas, the user’s IP address indicated the messages originated from Nigeria, according to police.

Colleagues said on one occasion Ishler arrived at work visibly distressed, saying she had shared a nude photo of herself, including her face, with someone she met online. The person reportedly demanded money in exchange for not sharing the images with her family, friends and on the internet. The affidavit states that although Ishler blocked the individual’s number, they continued to contact her on another social media platform.

Employee policy at Kid’s Court requires staff to leave their phones in their office rather than on their person while working. Police said Ishler did not abide by this rule, and her phone was not regularly secured in the staff office during work hours. When police interviewed Ishler at the daycare, she allegedly had her phone on her person in her coat pocket.

Police also said Ishler had previously been caught taking photos of children while on duty and sending them to their parents.

Because of the restrictive phone policy and limited access to the building, only a limited number of employees could have taken and disseminated the photos.

A search warrant was executed, and Ishler’s phone was seized and forensically analyzed.

In her phone investigators allegedly discovered 21 images of child sexual abuse material depicting male and female children under the age of 10 in a WhatsApp conversation media folder.

According to the report, police found evidence that Ishler was being “exploited” on WhatsApp by an individual identified as “Daddy.”

Police said 172 associated images were discovered in the investigation, including documented child exploitative media, bitcoin transactions, Ishler, children, weapons and extortion related documents.

In her messages with “Daddy,” Ishler said she intended to sell naked pictures, though investigators could not determine whether she was referring to images of herself or of her students.

Investigators also recovered evidence of Google searches related to deleting images and messages from WhatsApp, police said.

In a statement given by Kid’s Court to the Centre Daily Times, the day care indicated that they are cooperating with authorities and that the matter was immediately reported to the Pennsylvania State Police, ChildLine and the Department of Human Services. They also indicated that Ishler was fired and removed from the premises as soon as she was identified as a suspect.

Kid’s Court was unavailable for comment as of press time.

Ishler, who was incarcerated at the Centre County Correctional Facility, had bail set at $15,000 by District Judge Kelley Gillette-Walker. Her preliminary hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 17.