The teacher who posted sex photos and videos in social media has denied having sex with boys, claiming all of the partners shown were more than 20 years old.
Central investigation and computer crime police, led by Pol Lt Gen Thitirat Nongharnpitak, commander of the Central Investigation Bureau, took Sarot Meephai to a briefing on Saturday morning, saying the case could serve as a deterrent against the propagation of obscene content in social media.
Authorities took action after the man allegedly posted the video clips and photos on Twitter. He was charged with importing into a computer system lewd content under Section 14(5) of the Computer Crime Act, an offence that carries a penalty of five years in jail and/or a fine of 100,000 baht. More charges could follow after the investigators finish looking into all evidence, the police said.
Mr Sarot, who taught at Suankularb Wittayalai School, a famous all-boys school in Bangkok, denied the allegation, saying the video clips and pictures of his partners were not of boys and all of them were older than 20 years old.
He also said some news reports were false, such as those saying the partners were students at the school where he taught.
Nothing in the clips or pictures indicated that the partners were students or boys, he said. He did not even have anything to do with some of them since they were shared by others in groups dedicated to such content, he said.
Mr Sarot, 33, also said some of the information was not created by him since he had a habit of exchanging mobile phones with his partners.
He also told the media he did not want his school to be involved as this was a personal issue. As well, he denied having made sexual advances on the school's students.
The computer crime police took Mr Sarot to the Bangkok Criminal Court later on Saturday to seek the first round of detention of 12 days. They may detain him for a maximum of 84 days in total during the investigation.
The investigators opposed bail for fear he would interfere with evidence or threaten witnesses who might be students or minors.
The court approved the detention request and the suspect was taken to Bangkok Remand Prison in the afternoon. His relatives did not show up to post bail.
The school has already taken disciplinary action by transferring Mr Sarot to the Bangkok educational service area office. It has also set up a panel to look into the facts in this case. It will investigate the relationships between the man and his partners and analyse data on his three mobile phones.
The suspect admitted he posted some of the content by himself on Twitter but said other material had been shared by others.
The age of consent in Thailand is 15. The penalty is a jail term of 4-20 years and a fine of 8,000 to 40,000 baht. If the child is under 13, the penalty is 7-20 years in jail and a fine of 14,000 to 40,000 baht, or life in prison.