Drag queen arrested on child porn charges hires fellow performer as kindergarten classroom assistant

(Daily Caller News Foundation) – Western Heights Public School District in Oklahoma has reportedly hired a drag queen known as Carmen Deveraux, who works at Oklahoma City night club The Boom, as a kindergarten classroom assistant.

The school previously defended its August decision to hire Dr. Shane Brent Murnan as an elementary school principal at John Glenn Elementary. Murnan is a drag queen who performs under the name Shantel Mandalay and has an arrest record for child pornography, the Substack newsletter V1sut first reported. 

In 2001, while working as a fifth-grade teacher at Will Rogers Elementary School in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Murnan was arrested two weeks after police confiscated his devices on suspicion of possession of child pornography. Appeals Court Associate Judge Dave Allen said that it was “clear from a review of the pictures that they do represent child pornography.” A judge dismissed the charge against Murnan in August 2002. Murnan’s record was expunged and the charges were dismissed after completing probation for a drug charge in Oct. 2003.

Now, Murnan has welcomed the new addition of Deveraux, whose real name is Paul Caplan Stafford, as a teacher assistant in a kindergarten classroom, according to V1sut. Murnan and Stafford work together at the same nightclub. In screenshots of Facebook posts that appear to have since been deleted, Murnan, with his drag account, welcomes Stafford by his drag name, saying that “the long hours will now pay off.”

“Recently, information began circulating about Dr. Murnan and the charges he faced more than 20 years ago for an alleged crime involving child pornography,” a letter to parents that the school provided to the Daily Caller on Aug. 31 read. “According to news reports at the time, those charges were dismissed by the court, and the record of the charges has been expunged.”

“Since that time, Dr. Murnan has continued to be certified as an elementary school teacher and principal, including having his certificate renewed in April of 2023 and signed by State Superintendent Ryan Walters. The State Department of Education would have conducted another felony background check upon renewing his certification,” the letter continues.