San Gabriel Valley Teacher Who Pleaded Guilty To Child Exploitation Offenses And Admitted Molestation Sentenced To Over 23 Years

LOS ANGELES – A former teacher and athletic coach at Royal Oak Middle School in Covina, who pleaded guilty to producing child pornography and using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sex, was sentenced today to 282 months in federal prison.

John David Boyle, 52, of Glendora, received the 23½-year sentence from United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson.

At today's hearing, Judge Wilson said Boyle’s crimes were “horrendous” and that “the damage done to the victims is incalculable.”

Boyle, who in addition to teaching was also an athletic coach, pleaded guilty in March to enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, admitting that he molested a 14-year-old boy who he met online. Boyle also pleaded guilty to production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

Boyle “spent years collecting child pornography from the Internet, traded child pornography over e-mail, participated in sexually explicit conversations in Internet chat rooms in which he enticed underage boys to engage in sexually explicit conduct, and personally molested multiple underage boys,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing brief filed with the court.

During the course of the investigation, Boyle engaged in online chats with an undercover agent, believing that the undercover agent shared his sexual interest in young boys, according to court documents. Boyle set up an in-person meeting with the undercover agent in his classroom at the school on a Sunday, believing that the purpose of the meeting was to engage in sexual activity while watching child pornography together.

After being confronted by authorities in June 2013, Boyle allowed them to access several of his online accounts. Investigators then discovered that Boyle had used one of his accounts to distribute child pornography. Following Boyle’s arrest, further investigation by agents revealed that Boyle had abused at least one other underage victim in the late 1980s.

“Simply put, defendant is a sexual predator, who has avoided detection by law enforcement for many years and poses an extreme danger not just to the community, but also to the most vulnerable in it – namely, young children,” prosecutors stated in their sentencing brief.

The investigation into Boyle was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC).