Sam Amico
A Philadelphia high-school teacher has been accused of posing as a girl on Snapchat to lure female students into sending him nude photos and videos.
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Jeremy Schobel, 31, teaches at Harriton High School and used two separate accounts to pretend to be underage girls, investigators claim, via NBC 10. Schobel allegedly said in at least one account, acting as a female, that he was seeking a “girl-to-girl relationship.”
The investigation began after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a tip from the social media app Yubo that a user was engaged in “grooming” minors online. That tip came back in November. Eventually, investigators determined that the user was actually an adult male, specifically identifying Schobel.
Authorities obtained a federal search warrant for Schobel’s home last week, which led to an investigation by the FBI Philadelphia Division’s Child Exploitation Task Force. Schobel was arrested shortly thereafter.
He has since been charged with enticing a minor to engage in illicit sexual conduct and child pornography.
Per NBC 10, Schobel allegedly admitted to creating fake profiles on social media platforms to pose as teenage girls and solicit sexual images. He added that he has committed similar crimes for several years, focusing on girls between the ages of 16 and 18, investigators said.
Schoebel has since been suspended from his teaching job, with the Lower Merion School District terminating his access to Harriton High School devices and networks.
“Mr. Schobel joined the Lower Merion School District prior to the start of the 2021-2022 school year,” a district spokesperson said in a statement. “He had no prior record that would have precluded his hiring. While we understand that this is an ongoing investigation, at this time, LMSD is not aware of any inappropriate interactions between Mr. Schobel and LMSD students. Additionally, the District had not received any complaints or concerns from students or staff regarding his conduct in school.”
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