Nixa educator charged with federal child porn count

SPRINGFIELD, Mo (AP) — An assistant principal at a southwestern Missouri junior high has been charged in federal court, accused of posing as a teenage girl to ask for sexually explicit photos of a 13-year-old boy.

Federal prosecutors say 41-year-old Colby Fronterhouse, of Nixa, was charged Wednesday in Springfield's federal courthouse with sexual exploitation for the purpose of producing child pornography.

Prosecutors say Fronterhouse was the assistant principal at Nixa Junior High in September when he engaged in a series of text messages with the boy who was a student at the school.

Federal investigators say there were able to trace the phone used to request the photos to Fronterhouse.

District officials say Fronterhouse was suspended from his school job following his arrest.