Catholic teacher pleads not guilty to charge of sharing child pornography

St. Augustine High School in San Diego. (Photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego) A teacher at a North Park Catholic school pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a federal grand jury indictment of a single count of distribution of child pornography. The lone felony charge against Ryan Bennett Segura, 27, alleges he used digital and computerimages of a minor in interstate commerce. The case is related to his communication with a Denver man. The charge does not involve students at St. Augustine High School, where Segura has worked since mid-2021. Segura appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Torres, who scheduled an Oct. 14hearing in which a trial date may be set. Torres earlier ordered Segura detained without bail based on the strength of the evidenceagainst him, the nature of the charge and that it involved a minor, according to court records. The Denver man and Segura had a September 2024 conversation on mobile phones about child pornography that federal authorities discovered. The texts the two sent each other showed the Denver man asking Segura “what you into” and he replied “yng,” which is short foryoung, according to court records. The texting continued until Segura allegedly sent video images of a man with a boy involving sex acts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. The Denver man also responded with a similar video to Segura. Segura told federal agents he had distributed and received child abuse material with the Denver man, but that he had stopped viewing this type of material in March. The defendant’s LinkedIn page lists his job as a religion teacher and head track and field coach at St. Augustine. At the time of his arrest, St. Augustine’s President Ed Hearn, in a statement, said that the school placed Segura on administrative leave pending an investigation. Segura’s attorney, Nicholas DePento, could not be reached for comment. Segura remains inthe downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center.