School official admits to child porn charge

A Marin County school administrator on Tuesday admitted one felony charge of possessing child pornography at his Petaluma home.

Craig Lee, 54, accepted an offer from prosecutors to plead no contest to one of the original 13 charges filed against him. The remaining charges, and a misdemeanor charge of spousal battery, are to be dismissed at sentencing in June.

Judge Lawrence Antolini will be able to consider the allegations included in all 13 charges, however.

Lee was superintendent and principal of the 262-student Lagunitas School District in west Marin County before being put on leave during criminal proceedings. He remains free on bail pending sentencing.

Lee faces as long as three years in prison on the one felony conviction. A copy of the criminal proceedings has been sent to the state teachers’ credentialing board, according to court records.

Lee was arrested last April after his girlfriend of two years told police she found a box in the garage of their Aspen Way home containing an estimated 100 images of children in sexual situations. There were magazines, videos, and photos that had been printed from the Internet between 1999 and 2004, police said.