Bond has been denied for a Kingston man prosecutors say had hundreds upon hundreds of pornographic images of children on a home computer.

Raymond Robin Watts, 55, of 21 Gatepost Lane, Kingston, appeared before federal Magistrate Walter Johnson in Rome on Tuesday. Watts is a teacher at Mill Creek Middle School in Woodstock.

Defense attorney Billy Sparks argued that the government had very little against his client that would provide probable cause or build a case.

“The government has acted too quickly,” Sparks said.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Steinberg said the evidence against Watts, including a video of him handing an undercover Homeland Security agent a flash drive containing 1,027 images of children, is undeniable.

“You really couldn’t get much stronger evidence. We literally have a suspect distributing porn to an agent on video,” Steinberg said.

Michael Ashley, an agent with the Department of Homeland Security, testified in court that agents first became aware of Watts last month when his information was provided to them through two men associated with a child pornography site.

Ashley said an agent made contact with Watts, who then gave the agent a flash drive with the images, a third of them being pornographic.

During his testimony Tuesday, Ashley told the prosecutor that Watts, a swim coach at Mill Creek, told the agent the reason he wanted to coach swimming was to be around young children.

His attorney, however, argued that Watts was led to an answer by the agent. Sparks also told the judge that while his client has no family living at home with him, he would not be a flight risk and would be a fine candidate for bond.

Steinberg said Watts’ proximity to children in his neighborhood was a risk.

Sparks also said his client has not been terminated from Mill Creek Middle School. Administrators have said they would move him to a position that didn’t involve children, his attorney said.

“There seems to be hysteria around this case because he is a teacher,” Sparks said.

Johnson said he considered the evidence thoroughly before making a decision.

“If I make a mistake and someone is harmed, that weighs very heavy on me,” Johnson said. “I can’t risk that.”

Watts was returned to the Cherokee County jail.