- December 16, 2025
Daniel Biles, 38, was arrested on six counts of child pornography.
A Flagler County schools employee was arrested Friday and charged with six counts of child pornography, according to officials.
Daniel Joseph Biles, 38, was arrested as part of an investigation by the Bunnell Police Department, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorney’s Seventh Judicial Circuit Office.
Biles is a paraprofessional (teacher’s aide). He lives at 209 N. Palmetto St., just down the road from Bunnell Elementary School. He is being held at $60,000 bond at the county jail.
On April 24, Biles’ mother, Lynn, brought a computer in for repair. While repairing the computer, technicians found multiple images of nude children performing sexual acts.
The images were reported to the Bunnell Police Department, which seized the computer. A search warrant was prepared, and the computer was taken to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office for a forensic exam.
Investigators then found other pictures of Biles performing various activities, such as masturbating. The name of the files as well as pictures of Biles helped investigators determine ownership, according to the report.
Several of the images recovered involved prepubescent males performing sexual acts.
In 2003, Biles was investigated by the Bunnell Police Department after parents said Biles touched two children inappropriately while he was working at a day-care center. The charges were dropped because of lack of evidence, and Biles was reinstated as a classroom aide, according to Bunnell Police Chief Jeff Hoffman. The state plans to reopen the case as a result of Biles’ latest charges, Hoffman said.
School Board member Colleen Conklin said there are policies and procedures — as well as state statutes — that are in place designed to protect children.
“All employees are screened, and background checks are done,” she said. “I’m not sure what more in regard to policies can be done.”
Conklin said she couldn’t comment on the Biles case until the investigation is completed. She added: “His evaluations were good.”
The school district’s technology department has sophisticated tracking systems, and the technology staff can monitor websites being visited on school-distributed equipment on a real-time basis, Conklin said.
Those mechanisms proved useful about six months ago when Flagler County music teacher Steven Knob resigned from his positions as band teacher at Matanzas High School and Indian Trails Middle School, following investigations that revealed he used school computers to view pornography.
Knob wrote a letter of resignation Oct. 10, 2011. Although most school staff members have locks on their computers prohibiting the access of certain websites, Knob had a special administration code which allowed him entry.
“Between (the technology mechanisms) and policies we have in place, we do our very best to keep that oath of keeping children safe,” Conklin said.
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CHILD PORN SUSPECT JAILED
Merle Shamblin, the 51-year-old Bunnell man who was arrested in Canada on 40 counts of child pornography, has been extradited back to Flagler County and was in the Flagler County Inmate Facility as of Monday, April 30, according to Klare Ly, of the State Attorney’s Office.
Shamblin faces a maximum of five years in prison for each charge, totaling a maximum sentence of 200 years.
Shamblin was first caught when he took his computer to a Palm Coast repair shop Oct. 1, 2010.
After he signed the repair contract, Shamblin left. But he returned about five minutes later and told the store owner that he needed to delete some files. Larry Gross, owner of NetFX Pro Computers, told deputies that Shamblin worked on the computer for about 30 minutes. Gross said that during that time, he saw images of naked young girls. When Shamblin finally left the shop, Gross called the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
