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A 27-year-old Midlothian man was arrested March 8 as a result of a child pornography investigation. According to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, Joseph Richard Nowak III was charged with three counts of possession of child pornography.

Cumberland Chief Deputy Dennis Ownby said Nowak, who worked most recently as an elementary school teacher in Cumberland, also has been charged with the misdemeanor offense of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in Powhatan County.

“This was a joint investigation between Detective Sergeant Austin Schwartz of the Powhatan Sheriff’s Office and myself, and in the course of the investigation, his cellphone was seized in Cumberland by law enforcement and that’s where the photographs were found. At this time there are no photos of local area children found in the seized material,” said Ownby.

Sheriff Darrell Hodges said Nowak is being held without bail at the Piedmont Regional Jail.

The investigation is ongoing.