New York City

NYC School Employee Arrested for Allegedly Enticing Minor

What to Know

  • Employee of a NYC public school was arrested on federal charges of enticing minor to engage in sexual activity, law enforcement source said
  • Jason Seto, 41, of Astoria, was arrested at LaGuardia Airport restaurant where he allegedly planned to meet who he thought was a teen boy
  • Seto works with UFT United Community Schools at P.S. 48X in the South Bronx as a Community School Director, a law enforcement source said

An employee of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), a labor union representing most New York City public school teachers, was arrested on federal charges of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity, a law enforcement source said.

Jason Seto, 41, of Astoria, Queens, was arrested late Thursday at a restaurant at LaGuardia Airport where he planned to meet a person he believed to be a 14-year old boy with whom he had been communicating online to engage in sex, court papers say.

Beginning on Aug. 21, Seto engaged in online communications with an undercover NYPD officer he believed to be a 14-year old boy. The officer is assigned to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Border Enforcement Security Task Force. Over the course of two weeks, using an encrypted chat application, Seto described to the undercover officer various sexual acts he wanted to do, court papers say.

Court papers say Seto sent a picture of himself which included his face as well as a picture of his penis and in one conversation, shortly after the undercover officer said he was 14, Seto responded, “I like young.”

Seto works with the UFT United Community Schools at P.S. 48X in the South Bronx as a Community School Director, a law enforcement source said.

"Given the very serious nature of the allegations, Mr. Seto has been suspended without pay," a UFT spokesperson said. 

The city's Department of Education also confirmed Seto's suspension. 

"Mr. Seto was immediately suspended from his role when we were made aware of these deeply disturbing allegations. He is not a DOE employee and will remain suspended pending the outcome of this case,” the city's Department of Education spokeswoman Danielle Filson said in a statement.

Seto will appear in federal court in Brooklyn Friday. He faces ten years in prison if convicted.

Seto is represented by Douglas Morris of the Brooklyn Federal Defenders Office. Attempts to seek comment from Morris were unsuccessful.

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