A former teacher accused of sex crimes appeared in a Greensboro courtroom on Tuesday, May 12, after new charges were filed against him. Richard Lynn Upright, 56, of Pleasant Garden, was arrested earlier this year and charged with 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. He appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon, May 12, after 10 new counts were filed on Monday, May 11. He is now facing 20 total counts of felony second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
Prosecutors say the additional charges stem from detectives finding 70 more images on an iPad that was located in his classroom. “Some of these … females listed or depicted in these pictures range from younger to older,” a prosecutor said. “Even to the ages of 30 years old … So past students who were juveniles at the time to current.” At court on Tuesday, Upright appeared virtually in an orange jumpsuit. He is facing up to 88 months per charge.
The father of former students supported giving him no bond on the charges. His bond was set at $27 million, in addition to a previously granted $750,000 bond. During a court appearance in April, prosecutors alleged that Upright had been taking photos of students and putting their faces over nude and sexually explicit images using Photoshop and AI to edit images before storing them on his Google Drive.
Upright was still a teacher at the school when Guilford County Sheriff’s Office began investigating after receiving a tip. There were 111 images of child pornography in total. It is not clear how many victims are involved or if all of the victims were students. “A search warrant was executed at the Vandalia Christian school on Feb. 27. At that time, we discovered that the faces of many of these cyber tips that I’ve viewed were actually photoshop photographs with his students’ heads on the images of child pornography,” said a detective with Guilford County Sheriff’s Office.
Upright was fired after being charged. A court document says some of the material appeared to show a classroom, but it does not clarify whether it was at Vandalia Christian School or not. The father of an alleged victim spoke in the courtroom, asking that he be given no bond. “As you’ve heard, up until the kids that are 35 years old now. For at least 20 years or better, so what’s stopping him from going to that next level? I just hope that you can hear my saying and proceed with no bond,” he said.
