A 29-year-old instructional assistant at McNary High School was arrested at his Keizer home Thursday morning on multiple felony counts tied to a months-long investigation into internet crimes against children. Keizer Police took Jeremy Braden Williams into custody at 7:50 a.m. at his residence in the 800 block of Foothill Court NE without incident, before booking him into the Marion County Correctional Facility.
Williams was charged with several counts of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse, according to KATU. Police said the investigation stemmed from a tip routed through the Internet Crimes Against Children data system, a case timeline detailed in a FlashAlert bulletin describing the arrest as the culmination of a months-long effort by Keizer investigators.
That tip line traces back further than local police work. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children operates a CyberTipline that receives reports from electronic service providers and the public, functioning as a national clearinghouse that triages tips and routes suspected child sexual abuse material cases to local departments — the same pipeline that appears to have set this investigation in motion.
What the Charges Carry Under Oregon Law
Under Oregon Revised Statute 163.684, encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree is a Class B felony involving the intentional creation, duplication, publication, or possession with intent to distribute of visual recordings depicting child sexual abuse. A conviction on that charge in Oregon can bring state prison time, mandatory sex offender registration, and supervised probation, according to legal guidance published by Thompson Law.
Investigators have not specified whether the alleged crimes are connected to Williams's employment with the Salem-Keizer School District, per KATU's reporting. Williams worked as an instructional assistant at McNary High School, which sits on Chemawa Road North in Keizer and serves roughly 1,995 students in grades 9 through 12, according to Niche.
School District Says No Evidence Points to Students
The Salem-Keizer School District said it first learned of the law enforcement investigation during the summer, and added that it has no indication any Salem-Keizer students were involved in the alleged conduct, according to KGW. The district was made aware of Williams's arrest through Keizer Police, KATU reported.
Salem-Keizer Public Schools is one of Oregon's largest districts, educating more than 38,000 students across 65 school sites in Marion and Polk counties, per Oregon Public Broadcasting. The district requires pre-employment fingerprinting and criminal background checks for all new staff, along with training on maintaining adult-student boundaries and recognizing child abuse, according to district policy documents.
KATU said it reached out to school officials for a statement. This remains a developing story, and further details — including whether digital evidence involved school-issued devices or networks, and Williams's full employment history with the district — have not yet been made public.
