Bronx High School Teacher Busted for Child Porn
On Friday, Jon Cruz, a social studies teacher and debate coach at the Bronx High School of Science, was arrested on child pornography charges, the New York Times reports. According to the criminal complaint, Cruz offered underage boys money to send him nude and otherwise suggestive photos using the messaging app Kik.
The complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, alleges that Cruz paid three boys to send him photographs between August 2014 and February of this year, the Times reports. Two of the boys were 15-year-olds from New Mexico; one was a 14-year-old from upstate New York.
According to the New York Post, Cruz allegedly paid one of the boys in New Mexico $1,600 in Visa and American Express gift cards for nude photographs.
Cruz is charged with one count of production of child pornography, one count of receiving child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography. The Times reports that he appeared in court on Friday but did not enter a plea, and was granted a $1 million personal recognizance bond.
Bronx Science's principal, Jean M. Donahue, wrote to parents on Friday, the Times reports, saying that Cruz "has been reassigned from the school at an alternate location where he will not be in contact with students."
According to his faculty biography—which has been removed from the Bronx High School of Science's website, but is still available here—Cruz taught AP United States Government & Politics with Economics. In 2013, the National Forensic League awarded Cruz the Coach of the Year prize.