A Hayward high school teacher is one of six Bay Area men now facing felony charges of attempting to have sex with children.
Investigators said a Contra Costa County sting operation called Operation Broken Heart discovered the men soliciting children for sex on the internet.
“All I can say is the allegations are really disturbing,” said Michael Bazeley of the Hayward Unified Union School District. “As soon as we found out about his arrest, we acted swiftly and immediately released him from employment.”
He was referring to Joseph Martinez, a substitute English teacher at Tennyson High School.
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“The objective of the operation was to have undercover officers posing as minors online,” said Darryl Holcomb, Contra Costa County Prosecutor Darryl Holcombe.
According to court documents, Martinez sent photos of his genitalia to two different officers posing as 13-year-old girls, stating he took the pictures in his classroom.
In one chat, he went by the name Mr. Teacher Man, and told the officer he wished he could bring the girl to his classroom for some “naughty fun.”
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Parents are sickened and outraged.
“I don’t have any idea how to describe it, but he should not have done that kind of stupid stuff it’s not right, it's ridiculous,” said parent Ashi Prasad.
The district says police confiscated some items from the classroom after the arrest
“We’re working closely with investigators to support them in any way possible and provide them with any information that we can,” said Bazeley.
Five other men were also arrested -- each of them had arranged meet ups with what they thought were kids, only to be greeted by police.
Investigators say the sting is proof that sexual predators are scouring the internet looking for young victims.
“This is a really good time for parents to talk to their kids about smart phone usage, about how to stay safe on the internet, how to stay safe on social media. And so we’d really encourage parents to educate their kids to learn more about these platforms so we could keep kids as safe as possible,” said Holcombe.
