Former Philadelphia teacher sentenced to 39 years in catfishing child pornography scheme

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A former Springside Chestnut Hill Academy teacher will serve 39 years behind bars for deceiving young students on social media and asking them for explicit images.

Authorities said Andrew Wolf used his position of trust as a teacher to prey on middle school boys in the child porn scheme.

Inside the Springside Chestnut Hill School, authorities said Wolf was a well-liked and respected teacher for 18 years. But online, he was a sexual deviant who exploited his students for his own gratification.

"Any boy in that school could have been a victim," said Federal Prosecutor Kelly Harrell.

Harrell, said the 42-year-old and his accomplice, Kray Strange of Carthage, New York, catfished their victims by posing as teenage girls online to solicit nude images and videos of the students.

In all, she says a dozen boys at the school were exploited, in addition to others.

The crimes date back to 2018 and went on until Wolf's arrest in late 2021.

"The investigation started with a cyber tip made from Dropbox to the national center for missing and exploited," said Harrell.

Harrell said Wolf kept spreadsheets of his student's social media accounts to help with his sexual scheme, but there is no evidence he sexually assaulted any of his students.

Wolf's attorney released a statement to Action News that reads:

"The sentencing proceeding was very difficult for many people, including Andrew Wolf. Andrew previously pled guilty to all crimes charged in the indictment without any plea agreement. He accepted responsibility for conduct charged against him and apologized to the victims and their loved ones. He waived all his Constitutional rights to trial so no testimony would be necessary in connection with his indictment. The actions he took, and the statements he made were sincere efforts to express his remorse and mitigate the effect of the post-offense proceedings in the only way he could. He will spend the remainder of his life in service to others to make up for the crimes he committed."

Harrell said parents need to speak with their children about the dangers of sending online images.

"At best you can just be aware of what your kids are doing online and even when you know your kid thinks for communicating with a girl he's the same age as them that might not always be the person who's really behind the phone or computer on the other end," she said.

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy released the following statement regarding Thursday's sentencing:

"Today's sentencing is sobering for the SCH community. Throughout this process, we have been transparent with our community, updating them as we have learned more about the situation and providing avenues for two-way communications. We have also offered support services for anyone who needs them through our division heads or division psychologists. We will continue to make these resources and services available to students and others. Additionally, we have worked with law enforcement to ensure those responsible were held accountable. We hope today's sentencing can provide a measure of closure, and we will continue to do everything we can to keep our students safe and provide the resources the community needs to heal."