Florida elementary vice principal’s shady past under microscope after son’s arrest for possessing child pornography

Content warning: This article describes child sexual abuse. Please take care while reading.

18-year-old Matthew McChesney from Gulf Breeze, Florida, was arrested recently on charges related to explicit child sexual abuse material.

This caused some to reexamine comments McChesney’s mother, Kim McChesney, an elementary school vice principal, made when a substitute teacher was investigated for sexual misconduct involving children at her school in Gulf Breeze.

Matthew was arrested on July 14, 2025. He is facing 20 counts of possessing and trading explicit content involving minors ages 3 to 14 years old, which he allegedly shared in an online chat room.

Kim McChesney’s 2021 deposition

While there’s no clear indication that Matthew’s mother, Kim McChesney, an elementary school vice principal, had any involvement in her son’s alleged crimes, news of Matthew’s arrest has brought back questionable comments Kim made under oath that 9 and 10-year-old female students at her school provoked the substitute teacher’s abuse.

TikToker True.Crime.Mama shared a clip from Kim’s 2021 deposition. In it, Kim responds “that is correct” when the attorney asks whether she thinks the kids in the case “egged on” the alleged abuse.

Did Matthew “learn this from someone?”

In a follow-up post, True.Crime.Mama alleges that Matthew was allowed to tour Gulf Breeze Elementary, where his mother, Kim, works, while he was still a senior in high school, and during the investigation. True.Crime.Mama points out that Kim would have been aware of the charges against her son because it was her home that the authorities raided.

Further, unconfirmed Reddit reports say Kim tried to get Matthew “into Canada” before he was extradited to Florida, and social media photos confirm that the family was near Canada just four days before his arrest. Matthew was arrested in Washington State on an out-of-country warrant.

Response to True.Crime.Mama’s posts expressed outrage that anyone would think children could be responsible or play a part in their abuse. Some even suggested that Matthew may have “learned this from someone” and that Kim should be investigated. According to the Santa Rose County District Schools, Kim is now on administrative leave.

Before this arrest, someone reportedly flagged Matthew’s suspicious activity on a public chat platform. Authorities then searched and uncovered incriminating material on Matthew’s devices. McChesney reportedly cooperated by handing over devices and disclosing the locations of the files. After his arrest, Matthew was released on a $115,000 bond and is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on August 8, 2025.

If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673