Ex Main Line Teacher Gets Prison For Soliciting Underage Girls Online

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA — A former Lower Merion School District teacher has been sentenced to three decades in federal prison for posing as a teenager online in order to solicit sexually explicit photos from underage people.

United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero Wednesday said Jeremy Schobel, 33, of Philadelphia, was sentenced today to 30 years in prison and 20 years of supervised release for a child exploitation catfishing scheme that Schobel developed to entice young teenage girls, including one who was a student at his school.

Schobel is a former teacher at Harriton High School and the High School of Creative and Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

For more than three years, and often from classrooms at Harriton, Schobel posed as different underage girls online, creating extensive, fake profiles to deceive his underage victims into sending him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves.

Schobel was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with child exploitation offenses in June 2023 and indicted in November 2023.

In March, he pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography and five counts of manufacture of child pornography. His conviction requires him to register as a sex offender pursuant to Megan’s Law in Pennsylvania.

"As a teacher, Jeremy Schobel was tasked with developing young minds," U.S. Attorney Romero said. "As a predator, though, he chose to deceive and sexually exploit underage girls online — often from his school classroom. Today’s sentence closes the book on Schobel’s years of catfishing and gives his victims a measure of justice. Protecting children from abuse will always be a top priority for my office and our partners at the FBI."

"Mr. Schobel abused his position of public trust to prey on those we expected him to protect," Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia, said. "The sexual exploitation of children is among the most devious crimes we investigate and today’s sentencing serves as a reminder that the FBI and our partners will work tirelessly to protect children from abuse and exploitation."