ART TEACHER FIRED AFTER NUDE PHOTOS FOUND ON COMPUTER.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Antelope Valley Union High School District trustees have voted to fire a Highland High School teacher who they say downloaded pornography onto a high school computer.

The board voted unanimously at Wednesday's meeting to terminate art teacher Craig Fulladosa, who was suspended two weeks ago after authorities said they found in his classroom computer a photograph of a girl in a cheerleader's uniform performing a sex act.

``We voted to release him from employment with cause,'' trustee Kevin Carney said. ``It was for misuse of district equipment: i.e., downloading pornography onto high school district equipment.''

Sheriff's deputies are still investigating the sexual photographs, which were discovered when a district computer technician checked Fulladosa's computer for a problem.

School officials notified deputies, who then seized the computer to investigate whether any child pornography was involved, officials said.

``We haven't found anything that he can be charged with,'' Deputy Steve Owen said.

Fulladosa, who was an adviser to Highland's Academic Decathlon team, declined to talk to a reporter when reached at home.

Carney said the district has not yet looked at whether to try to have Fulladosa's teaching credentials yanked.

``If he violated a law, that would be something to look at. At this point, we haven't even explored that,'' Carney said.

High school district officials, who hired their own investigator, said no student was involved in the pornography.

Worried parents brought in photographs of a half-dozen girls who they feared might have been pictured, and investigators compared school locker rooms and changing rooms to the backgrounds of photographs but found no matches, officials said.

Deputies said the computer contained 16 to 18 photographs of young women or girls. Many of them appeared to have been taken secretly - through window blinds or with a hidden lens, officials said.