Los Angeles-area teacher arrested on federal child pornography charges after investigators find evidence of possible child molestation

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles-area middle school teacher, who allegedly met an undercover operative in his classroom so they could view child pornography, has been arrested after investigators determined that he was distributing child pornography over the Internet.

John David Boyle, 49, a teacher at Royal Oak Middle School in Covina, was arrested Wednesday by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) after they determined he may have molested children. Boyle, who is currently in custody, has a bond hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, the probe into Boyle allegedly revealed he engaged in online chats with an undercover agent, believing the undercover agent shared his sexual interest in young boys. Boyle set up an in-person meeting with the undercover agent in his classroom at the school on Sunday, thinking the purpose of the meeting was to engage in sexual activity while watching child pornography together. When the undercover agent arrived and presented Boyle with child pornography, he took possession of it. At that time, other agents entered the classroom to interview Boyle.

While Boyle was not arrested at that time, he made statements to investigators and allowed them to take over several of his online accounts, which included JuniorHighCoach@yahoo.com. While working with that account late Sunday and Monday, agents discovered that Boyle had used the account to distribute child pornography, the complaint alleges. Agents were also able to access Boyle’s Skype account, where they found evidence that he may have had sexual contact with minors.

Agents obtained a search warrant for Boyle’s computer systems, and on Tuesday discovered videos depicting child pornography. As a result of this investigation, Boyle was arrested Wednesday morning.

Based on the evidence obtained in this case, authorities believe there may be unknown victims of child molestation by Boyle. Anyone with information about this matter is encouraged to call HSI’s toll-free tip line at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) or submit information using ICE’s online tip form at http://www.ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form. The public may also contact the Covina Police Department at 626-384-5621 or go to the Covina Police Department website and submit an anonymous tip through the Crime Stopper’s link.

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

The charge of distribution of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in federal prison and a maximum possible penalty of 20 years in prison.

The investigation into Boyle is being conducted by HSI, the Covina Police Department and members of the multi-agency Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC). The probe is part of HSI’s Operation Predator, a nationwide initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers.