Thursday March 28th, 2024 9:33PM

Hall Co. violin instructor charged with 50 additional child porn counts

GAINESVILLE—A violin instructor arrested August 11 on child molestation now faces an additional 50 counts of possession child pornography.

Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Nicole Bailes said Wednesday that Leon Messerlian, 85, had the pornographic images on his computer.

"He was in possession of over 50 images...on those computer hard drives," said Bailes.

Messerlian taught violin at the Oxford Academy of Classical Studies, and has been in business for 14 years.

"In this case, we don't believe that these (pictures) were children that Messerlian taught. These were just images that were shared on the Internet. This is simply possession of (pictures of) children in sexually explicit acts that he has shared," said Bailes.

A student originally came forward with the charges against Messerlian, and he was booked into the Hall County Jail.

He remains in custody, and faces a committal hearing Friday.

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