Support for LAist comes from
Local and national news, NPR, things to do, food recommendations and guides to Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire
Stay Connected
Listen

Share This

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Male Teacher Allegedly Set Up Fake Female Facebook Page to Trick Teen Boys to Send Him Lewd Photos

zachary-reeder.jpg
Zachary Reeder (Photo courtesy Irvine PD)
()

Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.

An Orange County teacher and coach has been arrested and is suspected of putting up a phony Facebook page posing as a woman in order to get minor males to send lewd photos of themselves to him.30-year-old Zachary Reeder of Orange was arrested Saturday and booked on suspicion of lewd conduct with a child, possession and distribution of child pornography and child annoyance, Irvine police Lt. Julia Engen said, reports City News Service.

Reeder has been a history teacher at Anaheim's Servite High School since 2008, and spent four years coaching baseball at Irvine's Beckman High School up until the last school year.

Detectives say Reeder used the photo of a blonde woman and set up a fake Facebook profile, and may have been engaging via the site with teenage boys for a couple of years. After establishing increasingly inappropriate relationships with the victims online, Reeder would convince them to take sexually explicit photos of themselves and send them to him, says the Irvine Police Department. One victim was 14 years old.

Authorities say that so far there had not been any physical contact between Reeder and the minor males.

Support for LAist comes from

Additionally, police say they expect more victims will come forward.

As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.

Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.

We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.

Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.

Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist