Leon Goldstein teacher sentenced to 20 years for sexual exploitation of minors

April 3, 2023 Robert Abruzzese

Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP

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BROOKLYN — A former teacher at Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences in Brooklyn has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and six counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.

Jonathan Deutsch, 39 years old, was convicted in June 2022 following a one-week trial in front of U.S. District Court Justice Frederick Block.

“The defendant will be incarcerated for many years and deservedly so because he is the most dangerous type of predator, a teacher who enjoys victimizing children,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “Instead of using his training and skills as a teacher to enrich children, he used those skills to gain the trust of minors in order to sexually exploit them. We will continue to do all that we can to protect our children from sexual exploitation.”

According to court proceedings, between 2016 and 2017, Deutsch used multiple Facebook accounts to meet minors online, including LGBTQ+ minors who were struggling with their sexuality and gender identity.

After meeting in groups, Deutsch directly messaged children to develop relationships with them. He offered support, comfort, and affirmation when they expressed sadness, insecurity, or pain, and flattered them to gain their trust. He then engaged the children in hyper-sexual conversation and enticed them to engage in sexually explicit conduct so that he could obtain videos and photos of that conduct.

He also sent minors sexual photos that he represented to be of himself. Ultimately, Deutsch requested and received sexually explicit images or videos from at least four children, ranging in age from 10 to 16 years old.