What to Know
- Students at Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences were surprised by the arrest of teacher Jonathan Deutsch, one student said
- Deutsch was arrested Wednesday for soliciting sexually explicit photos and videos from dozens of minors
- A 17-year-old student at the school said classmates were taken aback by the allegations, as Deutsch had seemed likeable
Students at the Brooklyn high school where a teacher arrested on child porn charges taught were surprised by the allegations and never sensed anything was amiss, one student said.
Jonathan Deutsch, 34, who taught at Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences in Manhattan Beach until he was reassigned away from students at the beginning of the year, was arrested Wednesday for soliciting sexually explicit photos and videos from dozens of minors, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn said.
On Thursday, a 17-year-old student at the high school said classmates were taken aback by the allegations, as Deutsch seemed likeable.
Deutsch, who taught subjects including English, Special Education and Theater Arts at Edward R. Murrow High School, Brooklyn Tech High School and Gramercy Arts High School before landing at Leon M. Goldstein, allegedly had sexual conversations with at least 45 underage children he contacted via Facebook, according to the attorney’s office.
Some of the minors he sought sexually explicit images and videos from were as young as 10, the attorney’s office said.
He allegedly told the minors he was a teacher in an “effort to groom [them] for sexual exploitation,” told them to film and photograph themselves performing “sexually explicit acts,” sent them explicit photos of himself and bragged about prior relationships with children, according to a detention memo.
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Deutsch on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of a child and is being held without bond. He could face at least 15 years in prison if he’s convicted, the attorney’s office said.
