Brooklyn high school teacher arrested for allegedly producing child pornography
BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn high school teacher was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of making child pornography and using Facebook to lure his alleged victims, authorities said.
Jonathan Deutsch, a teacher at Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences in Manhattan Beach, faces five counts of sexual exploitation of child, according to the United States Attorney Eastern District of New York. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 15 years in prison.
Starting in January of 2017, the 34-year-old suspect allegedly contacted hundreds of Facebook users who appeared to be minors. He had sexual conversations with at least 45 of them, officials said.
The victims, none of whom were Deutsch’s students, range in age from 10 to 16 years old, officials said.
He often instructed the children and teens to send him videos and photos of them performing sexually explicit acts, authorities said. He allegedly sent minors sexual photos that he told the victims were of himself.
Deutsch teaches English at Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences, according to the high school’s website. After his arrest, Deutsch’s page on the school’s website was deleted.
PIX11 News has reached out to the city’s Department of Education for comment.