(WJET/WFXP) — A former Philadelphia teacher has been sentenced to spend the next three decades in prison after being convicted for a catfishing scheme to get explicit photos from underage students.
United States District Court Judge John F. Murphy sentenced 33-year-old former teacher Jeremy Schobel, of Philadelphia, to 30 years in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release while registering as a sex offender.
Schobel was a teacher at Harriton High School in Lower Merion Township, PA, and the High School of Creative and Performing Arts in Philadelphia.
He spent more than three years creating extensive fake profiles of underage girls, usually from classrooms in Harrington High, to convince victims to send him sexually explicit photos and videos.
“As a teacher, Jeremy Schobel was tasked with developing young minds,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “As a predator, though, he chose to deceive and sexually exploit underage girls online — often from his school classroom. Today’s sentence closes the book on Schobel’s years of catfishing and gives his victims a measure of justice. Protecting children from abuse will always be a top priority for my office and our partners at the FBI.”
Schobel was first arrested in June 2023 on child exploitation charges before formally being indicted later in November 2023. He pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography and five counts of manufacture of child pornography.
