Abuse scandal

Tormented pupils blew the whistle on porn teacher

Symbolic image

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

The "Steirerkrone" brought the shocking case to the public two years ago: a Styrian ex-teacher allegedly forced several pupils to take pornographic pictures of themselves and send them to one of his fake accounts over a period of years. The 69-page indictment against the almost 40-year-old is now complete.

The not yet legally binding indictment against the almost 40-year-old former teacher, who allegedly did terrible things to at least 16 pupils, all of them boys, is 69 pages long! The former secondary school teacher, who also taught religion as well as history, built a disgusting, highly complex construct around his person in order to get what he wanted: Naked pictures and videos of his underage pupils, some of whom were even minors! 

From the fall of 2009, he was employed at the Graz school in question and, as a guidance counselor, obtained the necessary basis for his despicable actions. He set up several Snapchat accounts on which he pretended to be a girl and asked his pupils to send him naked pictures and videos. In return, they received vouchers and cash. What's more, he is said to have outed himself as a teacher in some cases and offered better grades for particularly intimate pictures.

Teacher blackmailed children
Some victims had to play his game for years. In desperation, they turned to their guidance counselor, unaware that he was behind everything. They confided in him that the girl was threatening to publish everything on the internet if they didn't send more pictures and videos. The supposed confidant promised to help them, pretending to be a false savior. Shortly afterwards, the children received messages saying that their teacher had sorted everything out. Unaware that it was none other than himself who was sending them these messages!

The man partially confessed. A total of 16 victims have been identified by name. The charges are not yet legally binding.

Christian Kroschl, Sprecher der Staatsanwaltschaft Graz

Bild: Jürgen Radspieler

When rumors began to circulate at school about a teacher who demanded pornographic depictions of boys, things became difficult for him for the first time. In order to divert attention from him, he accused a colleague of having committed these acts - which is why he is now also charged with defamation.

Pupils framed teachers
His criminal game finally came to an end at the end of 2022. The abused children themselves were the decisive factor! Some of them had joined forces. During one of the man's lessons at school, they wrote him a message: "The next picture is coming in 30 minutes". When the message was sent, the children noticed that he was looking at his cell phone - confirmation that the text had actually reached him. He also kept looking at his watch, probably in anticipation of the next visual experience... When the pupils realized that it could only be him who had caused them so much pain, they went to another liaison teacher, who immediately took the necessary steps. 

The Styrian was immediately suspended and the public prosecutor's office in Graz was informed. Shortly afterwards, all data carriers were seized during a house search. The religion teacher panicked: He bought a new cell phone and logged into his account in the hope that he could still delete data. But the investigators found out. When he incited a victim to give false testimony shortly before an interrogation, he was temporarily remanded in custody.