Teacher facing child pornography charge allegedly discussed attraction to students

A St. Augustine High School arrested on suspicion of distributing child pornography will remain in custody, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Ryan Bennett Segura, 27, was taken into custody last week on allegations that he exchanged sexually explicit videos featuring minors with an unidentified man residing in Denver.

Segura allegedly admitted to investigators that he shared child sexual abuse material with the Denver man and “further admitted that he views this type of material every couple of months but claims he stopped doing so in approximately March 2025,” an FBI special agent wrote in a probable cause statement filed last week.

During a Tuesday court hearing to determine if Segura will remain jailed, a prosecutor said Segura also shared nonsexual photos of his students with a different man and that Segura and the other man discussed their sexual attraction to the students.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Griffith argued in court that Segura posed a danger to the community because “he has chosen to put himself in a profession that allows him to be around individuals with whom he is sexually attracted.”

She also said Segura “has breached the promise that he had with the students of the school by violating their trust.” The prosecutor did not identify the other man Segura was allegedly communicating with and declined to say if he was facing criminal charges, but said he had a “public-facing job in another state.”

Segura’s defense attorney, Nicholas DePento, argued that Segura could be safely released to his grandmother’s home, where his movements could be monitored with a GPS device.

He also denied that his client posed any danger to the community and told U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie Torres that prosecutors would not find any evidence that he had ever committed any physical acts against any of his students.

Segura is charged with distribution of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, which carries a five-year mandatory minimum sentence and a potential 20-year maximum prison term. He first appeared in court Friday.

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

St. Augustine’s President, Ed Hearn, said in a statement issued last week that Segura would be placed on administrative leave pending the conclusion of the criminal investigation and an internal investigation by the school.