Ohio teacher accused of blackmailing students in sex-crimes case gets 10-year sentence

BY MADELEINE LIST

A former middle school teacher who pleaded guilty to multiple sex crimes involving underage girls has been sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. A former Ohio middle school teacher and high school girls’ track coach has been sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for multiple sex crimes involving underage girls, according to local media reports.

Daniel Carlson, who taught at Mayfield Middle School in Cleveland, pleaded guilty on March 11 to multiple charges, including pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, compelling prostitution, extortion, importuning and tampering with evidence, according to Cuyahoga County court records.

Carlson is accused of coercing kids, some of whom were his students, into sending him naked photographs, according to Cleveland.com. In some cases, Carlson posed as a teenager online to initiate chats with the girls, according to the news outlet. He paid some of his victims thousands of dollars to send explicit photos and videos and also offered to pay some of them for sex, though prosecutors say they don’t believe he ever met the minors for sex, according to WJW When some of the girls said they wanted to stop interacting with Carlson, he threatened them and said he would post their explicit photos online, according to Cleveland.com.

In all, prosecutors say he spent more than $39,000 in cash and gift cards to solicit material from the children, according to Cleveland.com Police identified eight girls ranging in age from 14 to 17 as victims, according to WOIO. Carlson was sentenced on April 19 to 10 to 13 1/2 years in prison and register as a sex offender upon his release, according to WJW. According to Mayfield City School District board records Carlson, who taught math at the middle school, resigned on June 2, 2021