Director steps down from early childhood center

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Days after a former teacher is charged with possession of child pornography, his boss resigns. Sandy Diekvoss is one of the directors of the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center who will be stepping down in March.

39-year-old Louie Flowers was arrested last summer after a student and teachers allegedly found child pornography on his cell phone. Former and current employees tell FOX6 News, Flowers had been accused of inappropriate behavior in the past, but his boss allegedly looked the other way because the two were friends.

It was during a Chicago field trip in June 2012, when Flowers left his cell phone at work. The criminal complaint says a student came up to one of the teachers at the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center with Flowers phone, that contained naked pictures of underage girls. Flowers was later arrested that afternoon after returning back to Milwaukee, and in January was charged with two counts of child pornography. Investigators would later search Flowers home in Brown Deer and find more illicit material on his computer.

On Wednesday, a letter went home to parents of Silver Spring Neighborhood Center from the director Sandy Diekvoss, Flowers' former boss, who said "after considerable deliberation during the holidays, I decided to resign my position and submitted my resignation on January 11, 2013."

Former and current employees who chose to remain anonymous tell Fox 6, they believe this resignation was fueled by charges against Flowers. One person said the two were friends, and Diekvoss overlooked incidents with Flowers prior to the charges.

She wrote to us in a Facebook message saying, "This was a man who regularly put children on his lap, and preferred other adults not enter his classroom. There have been reports of his behavior that went ignored."

The resignation letter says Diekvoss' last day will be March 1st. Meanwhile, Flowers will be in court for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.