Fil-Am substitute teacher pleads guilty to child pornography charges in Hawaii ---- By DAVE LLAVANES JR.

NEW YORK - A Filipino-American teacher has pleaded guilty in the US District Court in Hawaii for producing, possessing, and distributing child pornography following the discovery by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of explicit images and videos of his student victims in his possession in 2022. Alden Bunag, 35, is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2024 and may face 15 to 30 years of imprisonment on charges of multiple counts of child pornography. According to court documents, Bunag sexually abused multiple victims aged 13 to 14 in 2016 and 2017. He also distributed child pornography from 2019 to 2022. In addition to the potential 15- to 30-year sentence, Bunag may also face an additional 20 years in prison for the charge of sexually assaulting a minor. This charge stemmed from his engagement in a sexual relationship with his 13-year-old student during lunch break. Bunag is a substitute teacher at Pearl City High School and a part-time temporary teacher at Lima Intermediate School in Oahu. He is currently held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center Apart from imprisonment, Bunag will need to pay up to a $250,000 fine after sentencing before Senior US District Judge Susan Oki Mollway. —KG, GMA Integrated News

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