Shared my sex photos
Suspended principal rips school leaders
A FORMER Queens high school principal says she was victimized with revenge porn twice, first by a vengeful ex-boyfriend — and then by the city school system.
Annie Seifullah, 39, says former beau Robert Sofia planted private photos of her having sex with her then-husband on a work laptop and then gave the images to school officials and the media in a twisted plot to ruin her career at Robert Wagner High School.
The plan worked. Even though an investigator believed that Sofia, the Long Island City school’s former PTA president, had put the photos on Seifullah’s work laptop computer in 2014, the Education Department pushed ahead to dismiss her — for having the photos on her computer.
Seifullah is now all but fired, with her reputation destroyed and her future career uncertain at best.
At an Oct. 19 termination hearing, education officials humiliated her, Seifullah told the Daily News, by passing around a dozen photos of her engaged in sex acts. That, she said, came after a department lawyer made good on a threat to share the photos with her colleagues if Seifullah refused to resign.
Hearing officer Barry Peek ultimately rejected the city’s attempt to fire Seifullah over the X-rated pics, but he came close by suspending the single mom without pay for a year. Peek did not respond to a request for comment.
Seifullah calls the penalty excessive and says she’ll appeal the Dec. 1 decision.
“I lost everything and was publicly degraded because my ex-boyfriend used revenge porn to attack me,” said the divorced mother of a 7-year-old son. “The Education Department should have protected and defended me. Instead, they spent the next three years stoning me in the public square.”
The beginning of the end for Seifullah came when she and Sofia broke up in 2014 after a two-year relationship.
Seifullah said she dumped Sofia because he became abusive by calling her names and demanding money. She said he told her that if she didn’t pay him he would turn over naked photos of her to her employer and make the photos of her public.
Sofia said he split with Seifullah because she was sleeping with other people.
He made good on his alleged threat, turning over a school laptop with compromising photos of Seifullah and telling education officials that she was having sex at school with several people. That charge was never substantiated.
Sofia additionally gave the pictures and his unfounded claims to a city newspaper, which published one of the photos — an image of Seifullah in lingerie — on its cover.
A city investigation found the images came from a folder called “Annie Evidence” on Seifullah’s laptop. Investigators also concluded it was “likely” Sofia created the folder since nobody but Sofia and Seifullah had access to the machine.
But Sofia claims that other people had access to the computer and swears Seifullah is a sexual predator who should not be allowed in schools.
“She should not be working in former girlfriend and were unable an environment around teens to substantiate the allegations where she has no qualms about that Seifullah had sex at her giving sexual favors to fellow educators, school, her termination hearing parents and possible students,” began in September. Sofia said. The charges included misuse
Sofia also denied that his decision of city resources — incredibly for to give nude images to the the revenge porn being planted press and school officials was an on her laptop. In the end, she also act of revenge. “If that were my intention, was found guilty of failing to secure I would have released the her computer and minor infractions images I saw to the public,” he including using a sick said. day to go to a traffic hearing and
Sofia, who has worked as a hiring a teacher to baby-sit her writer and editor, also said he’s son. going to be telling his side of the Education Department officials story in an upcoming graphic also charged she caused novel about Seifullah called “The “widespread negative publicity” Promiscuous Principal.” with a series of articles related to
Despite the fact that investigators her case. She was found guilty of believed Sofia set up his that, despite all appearances of her being the humiliated victim.
Soon after her hearing began, Education Department lawyers tried to blackmail Seifullah into resigning by threatening to display the photos as evidence, according to Seifullah and her attorney, Peter Gleason.
In the trial transcripts, Gleason accused department lawyer Donna Silverglad of trying to force Seifullah into stepping down by threatening to make the photos public in her hearing.
Silverglad responded that she was hoping to save Seifullah “some embarrassment.” But Seifullah didn’t settle with the city.
Silverglad printed out color copies of the images and — to Seifullah’s horror — distributed them at the hearing, Seifullah said. “I couldn’t believe it was happening,” she said.
“Mrs. Silverglad used stolen 10-year-old photos of me and my then-husband having sex inside our home as evidence that I deserve to be fired,” she said. “It was demoralizing and traumatizing.”
Silverglad denied she tried to blackmail Seifullah into resigning. “These allegations are baseless,” she said.
Education officials said that in order to protect the individuals in the photos, they were partially redacted. Seifullah and Gleason said there was one redacted copy of the images for the record and two unredacted sets for use in the hearing.
The lawyer also said the city was trying to harm his client. “Slut-shame and misogyny have guided the campaign against my client from the start,” Gleason said. “Sofia and the Department of Education are the same as Matt Lauer and Harvey Weinstein.”
Brooklyn attorney Carrie Goldberg, who specializes in internet privacy, domestic abuse and sexual consent, said offenders in revenge porn cases often threaten to distribute photos to gain control over their victims.
“What happened here feels like a silencing attempt by slutshaming and exposure,” said Goldberg, who is litigating several unrelated cases against the city school system. “The Department of Education has a real problem when it comes to punishing the people they should be protecting.”