A 41-year-old middle school teacher has been found possessing thousands of images and videos of child pornography, including content featuring minors as young as 3 years old. Ross Lanvin, who has been teaching on and off since 2006, was arrested and charged on February 13. The offences carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The investigation began in December 2024, when Google reported Lanvin’s account to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children after detecting 150 images and 90 videos of explicit content.
Lanvin allegedly used a fake name to create a burner Google account to store the illicit material. During a search of Lanvin’s Manhattan apartment, law enforcement found child pornography on at least one of his electronic devices. Lanvin admitted to accessing child pornography and confirmed that the Google account in question was his.
The court filing revealed that Lanvin’s Google account was used not only to access child pornography but also to look up lesson plans and teaching resources. In one instance, Lanvin used the AI chatbot Gemini to find math problems to put on a quiz. The account was also used to search for explicit content, including “young boys”, “gay teen boys” and browsing a porn site.
In May, the Google account was even accessed from a city Department of Education device, investigators said. Lanvin allegedly confirmed that the Google account was his and admitted to accessing child pornography, prosecutors said in court papers.
Lanvin was listed as a sixth-grade math teacher at Lafayette Academy from at least August 2020 through last year, according to archived versions of the school’s website. Lanvin was released on $75,000 bond on February 18 and is due back in court in March. The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with more information is urged to contact the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Matthew Podolsky, said, “Our investigation into Lanvin is ongoing, and we encourage anyone with information to contact us.”
The New York City Department of Education has said that they will pursue termination if Lanvin is convicted. Lanvin has been reassigned away from students pending the outcome of the arrest.
