A former Boston Public Schools teacher has been indicted on charges related to allegations that he had “sexual communications” with teen girls in other states and countries online, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Brookline resident John Magee Gavin, 35, was by a federal grand jury on one count each of coercion and enticement of a minor, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release. He was placed on leave from his job as a science teacher at the Josiah Quincy Upper School in downtown Boston in February when he was first charged by Brookline police.
In January 2025, authorities identified Gavin as the owner of a Discord account that messaged at least 20 underage girls between the ages of 12 and 17, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. The girls were located in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, as well as the U.K. and Canada.
It is alleged that, in the chats, despite knowing that the girls were underage, Gavin disclosed that he was a teacher, engaged in sexual conversations and often asked the girls to send him pictures of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. While reviewing his electronic devices, investigators found nearly 150 photos and videos of child sexual abuse of girls and boys aged five to 17 on his iPhone.
Further analysis of Gavin’s Discord account revealed numerous chats with underage girls in which he is alleged to have engaged in “online masturbation sessions,” solicited and exchanged sexual images and engaged in sexual conversations, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. He is alleged to have, at times, chatted with the minors during school hours.
The chats also included conversations in which Gavin expressed his sexual interest in certain students at the school, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. In one conversation, he is alleged to have discussed his attraction to a freshman student, as well as sexual fantasies he had about her.
In February 2025, Brookline police charged Gavin with enticement of a child under age 16, dissemination of material harmful to minors, enticement of a child under age 18 to pose in state of nudity and possession of visual material of a child depicted in sexual conduct, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. He has been in state custody since.
Gavin previously worked as a paraprofessional at the Hayes School in Brookline from January to August in 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Boston Public Schools completed all required employment checks — including a criminal background check and fingerprinting, personal and professional references and educational and employment background checks — before hiring him, the school district said previously.
Gavin is set to be arraigned in federal court in Boston on Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. He faces 10 years to life in prison, decades of supervised released and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines if convicted on the charges out of federal court.
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