A Yorktown school band teacher arrested on child pornography charges was killed in a hiking accident in Ulster County.

State police say Jeffrey Whalen, of Yorktown Heights, was found dead Saturday at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the Millbrook Trail.

Police say it appears Whalen was hiking at the Mohonk Preserve and somehow fell.

Whalen was a band teacher at Crompond Elementary School. He had been on administrative leave since his arrest in October for allegedly distributing and promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child younger than 10 years old.

Crisis counselors were available today for Yorktown students.

The district released a statement today announcing Jeffrey Whalen's death with "sadness and heavy hearts."