A man who worked as a science teacher at a Boston public school pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges for persuading at least one underage girl to engage in sexual conversations online and send him explicit photos, prosecutors said.
John Magee Gavin, 35, of Brookline, pleaded guilty to one count each of coercion and enticement of a minor, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography. He is set to be sentenced on March 12, 2026, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley’s office said in a statement.
Gavin was indicted in July and remains in federal custody.
Before his indictment, Gavin worked as a science teacher at the Josiah Quincy Upper School in Boston, which serves students in grades 6 through 12. Before that, he was a 6th-grade teacher at the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School in Hyde Park and a paraprofessional in the Brookline Public Schools, according to the statement.
In January, Gavin was identified as the owner of a Discord account that messaged at least 20 underage girls across the country and overseas, including in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, the United Kingdom and Canada. In the messages, Gavin identified himself as a teacher and engaged the girls in sexual conversations, according to the statement.
Gavin frequently asked the girls he was messaging to send him pictures of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct, even though he knew they were underage. Local authorities arrested and charged Gavin in February 2025. Records show the charges were dropped after Gavin was indicted.
Authorities discovered nearly 150 images and videos on Gavin’s phone depicting child sexual abuse, including those showing underage boys and girls ranging in age from 5 to 17.
An analysis of his Discord account found several chats where he participated in online masturbation sessions with minors, solicited images from and exchanged images with minors and engaged in sexual conversations with minors while at school, Foley’s office said.
“The chats also included conversations in which Gavin expressed his sexual interest in certain students at Josiah Quincy,” the statement reads. “In one conversation, Gavin discussed his sexual interest in a freshman student at the school where he was employed as a teacher and fantasized about having sex with her.”
The charge of coercion and enticement of a minor carries a sentence of up to life in prison. The other two charges — receipt and possession of child pornography — each carry sentences of up to 20 years in prison.