Ross Lanvin, 41, an Upper West Side middle school math teacher, was arrested on Thursday, February 13, on two counts of possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. Court filings detail a collection of at least 1,000 images and videos, some involving children as young as “approximately two or three years old.”
Initial reports of Lanvin’s arrest did not specify the school where he taught, but the New York Post now reports that he “most recently taught math at MS 256 Lafayette Academy” and allegedly used a fake name to create a burner Google account to store illegal material from September 2021 to December, according to Manhattan federal prosecutors. The school is located at 154 West 93rd Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues.
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According to a Manhattan federal court filing, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security states that Lanvin knowingly possessed and accessed, with intent to view, various materials containing illegal content dating back to approximately September 15, 2021. The filing also notes that on February 13, Google flagged approximately 150 images and 90 videos containing explicit material and reported them to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Google then blocked Lanvin from accessing the account. NCMEC forwarded the material to investigators, according to prosecutors.
The filing also alleges that around November 25, 2024, Lanvin used his burner Google account to ask the AI chatbot Gemini for examples of math problems to include on a student quiz. Then, through December 2024, “the user of the Subject Google Account searched for various videos on ‘myvidster,’ a pornography platform, using terms like ‘young boys’ and ‘gay teen.'” Court documents note that the presence of illegal content on these websites could not be confirmed, as many of the videos appear to have been removed.
Lanvin, who public records show resides in Harlem, allegedly confirmed that the Google account was his and admitted to accessing illegal content, prosecutors stated in court filings. Records show he was released on a $75,000 bond on February 18 and is scheduled to return to court in March.
The New York Post reported that it viewed a video on the school’s Instagram account (currently set to private) from March 2023, captioned “Mr. Lanvin.” The video showed the teacher at an event on stage, with a plate of whipped cream thrown in his face by a student and the principal. The Post also reported that Lanvin has been on the city’s Department of Education payroll since 2006 and still holds an active teaching license for grades 1-6. He was listed as a sixth-grade teacher at MS 256 Lafayette Academy, “from at least August 2020 through last year, according to archived versions of the school’s website.”
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A spokesperson for the Department of Education declined to specify the schools Lanvin has worked at over his nearly 20-year career but called the charges “extremely concerning” and confirmed that he has been “reassigned away from students pending the outcome of the arrest.” “If convicted, we will pursue termination,” she added.
Lanvin could face a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is encouraging anyone with information to contact Wendy Olsen-Clancy, the Victim Witness Coordinator, at 866-874-8900 or via email at wendy.olsen@usdoj.gov.
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