Boston Teacher Carter Peaseley Charged with Child Pornography

BOSTON – In a shocking case of exploitation, former Boston teacher Carter Peaseley, 40, has been arrested and charged with possessing and receiving child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Peaseley, a Quincy resident, was taken into custody on May 23, 2024, and released on conditions including a curfew, electronic location monitoring, and an order not to have unsupervised contact with children.

According to the charging documents, Peaseley was involved in an online relationship with a 15-year-old minor, during which he allegedly discussed wanting to teach the minor how to kiss – among other sexually explicit activities – and his plan to visit the minor.

Peaseley allegedly instructed the minor not to save his texts and suggested they should use a different platform. It is further alleged that Peaseley and the minor exchanged photographs, which included sexually explicit photos of the minor. Court documents reveal that during a search of Peaseley’s residence, approximately 243 images of CSAM were found on a computer and cellphone, which were seized.

Peaseley was formerly a teacher at the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science and the Match Charter School, both located in Boston.

The charge of possession and receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes governing the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Tobin of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.