Catholic school teacher facing pornography charges makes first court appearance

A St. Augustine High School teacher charged by federal prosecutors with sharing sexually explicit videos featuring children made his initial court appearance Friday.

Ryan Bennett Segura was arrested earlier this week on allegations that he exchanged the videos with a person in Colorado.

Segura, who is charged with distribution of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, remains in custody.

During Friday afternoon’s brief court appearance, another hearing was set for Tuesday to revisit his custodial status. A prosecutor said in court that the government would move to keep Segura in custody based on him presenting a danger to the community, but did not elaborate further.

According to a probable cause statement filed in federal court, the investigation into Segura began with the arrest of another man in Denver last fall.

After reviewing the Denver man’s electronic devices, investigators discovered he had been communicating with Segura and exchanging videos with him, according to the statement.

During one conversation between the men, the Denver man asked Segura, “Whatre you into.”

Segura replied, “Yng,” which an FBI special agent who authored the statement said means “young.”

Segura asked the Denver man the same question and he replied, “Same no limits.”

The probable cause statement alleges that months of investigation led to Segura’s identification as the user communicating with the Denver man.

Law enforcement agents later spoke with Segura, who “admitted he was the user of the social media account that distributed and received child sexual abuse material with the Denver subject,” according to the statement.

Segura’s LinkedIn page indicates he is a religion teacher and head track and field coach at St. Augustine and has worked at the school since mid- 2021.