Pelham City High School teacher arrested on child exploitation charges

PELHAM — A teacher from Pelham City High School who was reportedly preparing to take a job in Albany was arrested on child exploitation charges earlier this week.

Rod Williams, chief investigator for the Pelham Police Department, said that law enforcement officials got a report from a parent whose child was receiving lewd messages via a cell phone. Contact was made with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who has been assisting Pelham police with the investigation, he said.

Police arrested Dennis Edward Hill, 41, on Wednesday, as he was packing up on his last day there, Williams said.

Williams also said investigators were told that another child had been receiving text messages and photos of a lewd nature from Hill. He said it had been going on since the beginning of the school year, and that both children were students at the school. Williams would not disclose their ages other than to say one was a freshman and another was an upperclassman.

Hill has been charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of children. There are currently no other charges pending, unless someone else comes forward with further information regarding the case, Williams said.

Dave Davies, headmaster at Deerfield-Windsor School, said the school was in discussions with Hill regarding employment there, but would not comment on whether he had accepted a job at Deerfield or not. As far as recent circumstances impacting those discussions are concerned, Davies said officials at Deerfield would monitor the situation at it progresses. One parent of a DWS student said Hill was expected to begin teaching there in August, but that was before his arrest was announced.

Officers said Hill has reportedly been bragging to children that he had appeared in the Sherwood Pictures film “Courageous.” The Internet Movie Database has a Dennis Hill listed in the cast credits for the 2011 film as “Visitation Guard.”