Former Boston teacher sentenced to 10 years in prison for child exploitation

A former science teacher at Josiah Quincy High School in Boston was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison on child exploitation charges, prosecutors said.

John Magee Gavin, 35, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count each of coercion and enticement of a minor, receiving child pornography, and possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement. statement. He was sentenced in federal court to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

Prior to teaching at Josiah Quincy, Gavin was a sixth grade teacher at Pacific Rim Charter Public School Academy in Hyde Park and a paraprofessional at Hayes School in Brooklyn. The US Attorney’s Office said he was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2025.

Prosecutors said Gavin forced at least one underage girl to have sexual conversations with him online and asked her to send him her child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Investigators found that he was in possession of CSAM material depicting the rape of boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 17 years.

In January 2025, authorities identified Gavin as the owner of a Discord account used to contact at least 20 underage girls between the ages of 12 and 17, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The girls Gavin sent letters lived in several states, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Gavin told the minors he was a teacher, had sexual conversations with them, and often asked them to send sexually explicit photos of themselves, according to prosecutors. Authorities arrested him in February 2025 and charged him in Brooklyn District Court with enticement of a child under 16, possession of child pornography, dissemination of obscene material to a minor, and depiction of a child in a nude or lascivious position, according to court records.

Investigators found approximately 147 files — including 94 photos and 53 videos — depicting CSAM on Gavin’s cellphone, prosecutors said. These photos and videos showed the rape of minors, male and female, between the ages of 5 and 17 years.

Gavin’s Discord account revealed that he conducted online masturbation sessions with underage girls while chatting with them, according to prosecutors. He also asked them for pictures, exchanged photos with them, and had sexual conversations with them while at school.

In some chats, Gavin expressed sexual interest in some students at Josiah Quincy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. One of these conversations involved Gavin discussing his sexual interest in a new student who he said he fantasized about having sex with.

The victims in these incidents have since been identified, and law enforcement officials have contacted their families, prosecutors said.