Qns. principal stung luring ‘boy’ for sex in online chat – cops
A Queens assistant principal was arrested for making plans to meet up for a “sexual act” with a 14-year-old boy — who turned out to be an adult who posted the encounter on YouTube, Education Department investigators and cops said Wednesday.
Claudio Garcia, 40, an assistant principal at Queens Technical High School in Long Island City, started chatting with the fake teen, who first said he was 18, then told Garcia he was 14, on the hookup app Grindr on Sept. 15, Education Department investigators said.
When Garcia showed up to a planned meeting at a park near his Bronx home, “he learned that the alleged 14-year-old was actually an adult male who recorded their encounter and posted it to YouTube,” according to the DOE’s Special Commissioner of Investigation.
Garcia was arrested 10 a.m. Wednesday after cops questioned him at the 52nd Precinct stationhouse, charging him with attempted criminal sex act and disseminating indecent materials to minors, police said.
Cops claim Garcia engaged “in a sexual conversation with someone he believed to be a minor and agreed to meet the minor for a sexual act.”
Education Department Special Commissioner for Investigation Anastasia Coleman said “there is no place in the New York City School System, nor anywhere else in our society, for this type of predatory behavior. Those who seek to prey upon our children, particularly those who are entrusted with positions of influence, must be sought out and face the full consequences of our legal system.”
A spokeswoman for the Education Department, Sarah Casasnovas, said, “The safety and well-being of our students is our top priority. We immediately removed this employee from our classrooms earlier this year following this deeply disturbing
allegation and are pursuing termination.”
Garcia, who wore khakis, a black jacket and a black mask, held his head high during his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court on Wednesday night.
Prosecutors consented to Garcia’s release without bail and without conditions, but Judge Audrey Stone ordered him placed on supervised release.
“Given the nature of Mr. Garcia’s status
within the community and the very serious charges here, I believe supervised release at a minimum would be appropriate,” the judge said. “Mr. Garcia, I want to explain to you that I understand that the DA’s office is requesting release without any conditions, however, these are very significant changes.” Garcia and his lawyer ignored questions from a reporter as they left the courthouse.