Fairfax County teacher arrested, charged with possession of child pornography

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - A Fairfax County teacher has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.

Fairfax police say they received a cyber tip Tuesday from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) notifying them that an individual with a Snapchat account associated with an IP address in Fairfax County was in possession of child sexual abuse material.  

Through the detective’s investigation, they determined the IP address was associated with an apartment in the 6800 block of Meteor Place in Springfield.

RELATED: At least 135 teachers, aides charged with child sex crimes this year alone

After executing a search warrant at the home, detectives identified Kristine Knizner, 28, of Springfield as the only occupant. They found photos and videos of child pornography on several social media apps. 

Knizner was arrested and taken to the Adult Detention Center and released on a $2,000 unsecured bond. She was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography. 

At the time of her arrest, Knizner was employed with Fairfax County Public Schools working as a teacher at Irving Middle School in Springfield. Prior to that, she was a teacher at Key Middle School in Franconia. 

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, an Irving Middle School parent, told FOX 5 Knizer was a general science teacher, and she is shocked by the arrest.

"As a parent, it does make me wonder why the school board isn’t paying more attention to these types of things," Lundquist-Arora said. "I think that the Fairfax County school board right now is paying a lot more attention to things like advocacy for transgender students instead of maybe vetting for teachers."

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Police say the victims do not appear to be Knizner’s students. 

Anyone with information regarding other cases involving Knizner is asked to contact the Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 6