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Bronx Teacher Gets 6 Months Behind Bars for Trying to Seduce Teenage Girl

By Eddie Small | July 18, 2016 6:05pm
 Teacher Jonathan Blum, 29, was sentenced to six months behind bars for trying to seduce an undercover police officer posing as a teenager.
Teacher Jonathan Blum, 29, was sentenced to six months behind bars for trying to seduce an undercover police officer posing as a teenager.
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QUEENS — A Bronx history teacher has been sentenced to six months behind bars for attempting to seduce an undercover police officer who had been posing as a 14-year-old girl online.

Jonathan Blum, 29, taught history at Dreamyard Preparatory High School in The Bronx and had put an ad up on Craigslist saying he was looking for a young teenager who wanted to mess around with a licensed teacher, according to the Queens District Attorney's Office.

An undercover NYPD detective responded to the ad, and Blum exchanged multiple sexually explicit emails with the officer between April and May 2015, prosecutors said.

He was arrested on May 14, 2015, after meeting with an undercover female police officer in Queens posing as the 14-year-old girl.

Blum, a resident of Whitestone, Queens, was assigned away from students after his arrest, a source told DNAinfo New York, and he resigned from the Department of Education in April 2016.

He pleaded guilty to a second-degree attempted criminal sex act in April 2016 and was sentenced on Monday to six months behind bars followed by 10 years of probation.

“While this behavior was not school-related, it was deeply disturbing; Mr. Blum resigned his position and is not eligible to work in New York City schools again," said DOE spokeswoman Devora Kaye.

Blum will also have to register as a level two sex offender on the New York State Sex Offender Registry, and he has already surrendered his state teaching license and resigned from his position with the New York City Department of Education, according to the Queens DA's Office.

"This case once again underscores the crucial importance of internet surveillance by law enforcement to protect children from sexual predators," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. "This defendant’s actions should serve as a warning to parents to closely monitor their children’s internet access and activities because predators continue to relentlessly search the internet for victims.”