DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (WGN) — An assistant girls’ track coach at Downers Grove South High School is under arrest and charged with possessing child pornography.
According to federal court documents, Homeland Security Investigations agents served a search warrant at Glenn Messmer’s home on Tuesday and found multiple child pornography files on his computer, including child pornography of girls as young as four years old.
Federal authorities allege the 46-year-old interacted with at least two minors in Georgia on Snapchat and Telegram. According to the documents, Messmer is alleged to have convinced the minors to produce child sexual abuse material and provided specific instructions in at least one instance.
He then paid the minors for the child pornography using CashApp, according to the documents.
In an interview, he told authorities he solicited between 30 to 60 underage girls for nude photos on Snapchat and paid a total of $2,000 to them, according to the court documents.
“I think it’s disgusting to think someone here who was here every day still asked them for that and knowing someone was inside our building and did that is disturbing,” Jaina Kolavennu, a freshman at the high school, said.
School district 99 officials said Messmer resigned Wednesday and no students were involved or victims in the case.
He was only an assistant coach and not a full-time employee or teacher, the district said. He started coaching in April 2021.
Messmer also volunteered as a track coach in the spring of 2019 at both Downers Grove South and North high schools. He also volunteered at the south high school’s track summer camp in 2020.
“Messmer was not a teacher at District 99; like all district employees, he passed a background check before he interacted with any District 99 student,” the district said in a statement to parents. “At this point, neither we nor the authorities are aware of any inappropriate interactions with our students; however, we wanted to make you aware of this situation.”
“It’s not all the time the background check is going to tell you who this person is,” Julia Aldrwbi, a parent, said.
The Department of Justice is reminding people who may be victims of sexual exploitation to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children online.
People can also call the center at 1-800-843-5678.
