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A federal grand jury in South Carolina returned an indictment charging a former teacher at Heathwood Hall with attempting to coerce two teenagers into producing sexually explicit images, and with distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material, according to court records.
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Jonathan Andrew Monk, 44, is accused of trying onNov. 29, 2025, to “persuade, induce, entice and coerce” two minors — identified in the indictment as minor victim 1 (age 15) and minor victim 2 (age 16) — to engage in sexually explicit conduct “for the purpose of producing a visual depiction,” in violation of federal law, the indictment says.
Heathwood Hall is a private Episcopal school in Columbia that serves students from pre-K to grade 12. It is unclear whether the two were students at the school while Monk was employed there.
Prosecutors also charged Jonathan Andrew Monk with six counts of distribution of child pornography tied to specific video files and dates in 2025, alleging the material was shared using a facility of interstate commerce, including by computer.
The indictment lists multiple aliases and associated accounts on the Kik mobile app, including “rizzlertwizzler,” “blobbyjonn19,” “galizzglizz,” “supesglizzz18,” and “skoobidi1777.”
The counts regarding distribution reference video files with short, encoded names and durations ranging from 42 seconds to nearly two minutes, with alleged sharing dates including Aug. 17, 2025; Sept. 12, 2025; Oct. 4, 2025; and Nov. 2, 2025, the document states.
A ninth count alleges possession of child pornography from Oct. 14, 2024, through the date of the indictment.
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Monk was arraigned before federal Magistrate Judge Thomas Rogers III on Tuesday and pled not guilty, according to court records.
Taylor Davis Gilliam, a federal public defender, is listed as Monk’s attorney. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elle Klein.
Monk, who remains in custody, is set to have a detention hearing before Rogers on Friday, July 31, at the Matthew J. Perry Courthouse, according to court records.
If convicted, Monk faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of 15 years, according to prosecutors.
Monk is the son of The State reporter John Monk, who’s widely known for his coverage of the Alex Murdaugh case and who also covers the U.S. Attorney’s Office for South Carolina. “This is a heartbreaking for everyone concerned,” John Monk said.
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