A former science instructor at a Boston faculty is dealing with extra penalties on account of his alleged attraction to minors, evidenced by what authorities describe as a big assortment of recordsdata depicting baby sexual abuse materials.
A federal grand jury has indicted John Magee Gavin, 35, of Brookline, for allegedly coercing or attractive not less than one underage feminine to have interaction in sexual conversations on-line and requesting that she produce and share express materials of herself.
The previous instructor on the Josiah Quincy Higher Faculty has been in state custody on associated expenses since February, when Brookline Police arrested the person at his residence.
Gavin is slated to look in Boston federal court docket Monday morning. He has been indicted on one depend every of coercion and enticement of a minor, receipt of kid pornography, and possession of kid pornography.
Gavin’s alleged fascination with messaging minors got here to an finish in January, when authorities recognized him because the proprietor of a Discord account who had communicated with not less than 20 underage females between the ages of 12 and 17 positioned throughout the nation, and in the UK and Canada.
“It is alleged that, in these chats, Gavin disclosed that he was a teacher, engaged in sexual conversations and often asked the minors to send him pictures of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct – knowing that the children were underage,” in keeping with a launch from Massachusetts US Lawyer Leah Foley’s Workplace.
In a memorandum filed in federal court docket, supporting the prosecution’s request for pretrial detention, Assistant US Lawyer Luke A. Goldworm highlights how Brookline Police seized a number of objects of clothes that matched the apparel Gavin was seen carrying in images the instructor despatched to his victims.
Final month, federal brokers accomplished a overview of Gavin’s iPhone that contained 147 recordsdata depicting baby sexual abuse materials – 94 photographs and 53 movies. It’s alleged that the content material exhibits the rape of each feminine and male minors, ranging in age from roughly 5 to 17 years outdated.
Brokers allegedly discovered that Gavin’s Discord account revealed the instructor participating in quite a few chats with minors that included “online masturbation sessions” and “sexualized conversations with the minors while he was at school,” in keeping with Foley’s workplace.
“The chats also allegedly included conversations in which Gavin expressed his sexual interest in certain students at Josiah Quincy,” the workplace acknowledged. “In one conversation, Gavin allegedly discussed his sexual interest in a freshman student at the school where he was employed as a teacher and fantasized about having sex with her.”
Boston Public Colleges took motion towards Gavin instantly, putting the instructor on administrative depart. The district, in February, identified that the state expenses weren’t associated to BPS or BPS college students.
Gavin beforehand labored on the Roland Hayes Faculty in Brookline as a paraprofessional in 2020, from January by way of August of that 12 months, in keeping with authorities.
The Academy of the Pacific Rim Constitution Public Faculty in Hyde Park employed Gavin as a instructor in August 2022, passing all the faculty’s background checks, Government Director Farida Mama Graham wrote in a letter to households in February.
The varsity’s data “also show that no complaints were ever filed by parents, students or staff against this teacher during his time of employment,” Graham added. Gavin resigned final August earlier than taking his place at Josiah Quincy Faculty.
Gavin stays in state custody. If launched, he’ll face a slew of situations that embody being positioned on GPS with an exclusion zone of the Josiah Quincy Faculty and required to remain away and don’t have any contact with the victims, and no contact/communication with kids underneath age 18.
He would even be required to give up his passport and never be allowed to depart Massachusetts, whereas not utilizing social media or functions that permit for texting equivalent to Discord, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and TikTok.
“His pretrial release would endanger his former students who he has demonstrated a sexual interest in,” Assistant US Lawyer Goldworm acknowledged in his request for pretrial detention. “There is a serious risk that Gavin could use his relationship with the students or the knowledge he has learned about them to arrange a meetup or contact these students.”
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