When the Miramonte sex abuse scandal erupted early this year, the L.A. school district and detectives said they had to take time to investigate horrific allegations against teacher Mark Berndt, meaning parents were in the dark for the better part of a year.

These days, somehow, some way, things happen much faster.

Substitute teacher Taylor Welch was arrested and relieved of duty within a week of authorities finding out about what he had allegedly done:

On April 24, he was accused of the “exchange of sexually graphic photographs, live video feed and sexting messages between the suspect” and a 13-year-old girl he met at school but wooed online via Facebook, according to a sheriff's statement.

Detectives say the suspect, only 22, started substitute teaching in September at Hutchinson Middle School in La Mirada and looked the girl up on Facebook in December.

Authorities only found out about this month, according to the department:

Authorities were made aware of the situation when the victim showed photographs of the suspect, which were stored on her cell phone, to a friend. This led to a parent reporting the matter to school authorities who notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Welch was arrested Tuesday at his home in La Mirada on suspicion of lewd acts on a child and distributing obscene material to a minor. He was being held in lieu of $140,000 bail.

Because he had access to children, detectives want to know if there might have been other victims. Anyone who has information on this was asked to call the sheriff's Special Victims Bureau at 1-877-710-5273.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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