Brooklyn High School Teacher Allegedly Coerced Minors Into Child Pornography

A Brooklyn public high school teacher has been arrested for allegedly coercing minors into sending him sexually exploitative content over the Internet. According to court filings, Jonathan Deutsch, 34, pressured teens and pre-teens to film themselves drinking their own urine, and to share full-frontal nudes.

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York alleges that Deutsch, an English teacher at Leon Goldstein High School for the Sciences in Manhattan Beach, used fake names to Facebook message hundreds of kids, ultimately engaging at least 45 in sexual conversation. Police took Deutsch into custody on Wednesday, and charged him with five counts of producing child pornography. If convicted, he could face a prison sentence between 15 and 30 years.

"Our children deserve to grow up in a world where they don't have to face overcoming the horrors and scars of sexual abuse," William Sweeney, FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge, said in a statement. "The fact that this suspect was a teacher makes this crime even more egregious." The FBI worked together with the NYPD to apprehend Deutsch.

Court documents say that between January 13th and May 18th, 2017, Deutsch made Facebook accounts under pseudonyms including "Sam Morgan" and "Jay Stern." He then allegedly targeted other users who, based on their profile pictures, he deemed to be minors: Children ranging from 10 to 16 years old. According to the filings, Deutsch typically identified himself as a teacher—purportedly as part of the grooming process, so the children he chatted with would feel more comfortable—but on one occasion, posed as a 14-year-old boy and asked a 10-year-old girl to be "bf gf." Prosecutors say he then solicited explicit pictures from her.

Deutsch allegedly requested and received similar shots from a 13-year-old transgender boy, to whom he described his interests as "drugs and children"; from a 16-year-old girl who, at his specific request, sent videos of herself stripping, masturbating, and peeing into a cup before consuming its contents; and from a 14-year-old girl he said he "loved" and promised to "never leave." He allegedly sent photos of himself to the victims as well. Deutsch's behavior, the filings say, took a "profound emotional and psychological" toll on the victims.

A law enforcement source tells the NY Post that it appears Deutsch did not go after his own students. A spokesperson for the Department of Education told the tabloid that the department "will seek his removal from payroll and termination as soon as legally possible." Leon Goldstein High School for the Sciences did not immediately respond to our request for comment.