By Forum Staff
A substitute special education teacher has plead guilty to an indictment that charges him with an attempted criminal sexual act and other crimes after he was caught trying to meet with an undercover NYPD officer posing as a 14- year-old girl to perform oral sex on her in exchange for $500 in cash last July.
Christopher Tselios, 29, of 64th Avenue in Bayside was planning to leave the US permanently that same week, to teach kindergarten in South Korea.
“The defendant has admitted to trying to meet an underage teenager for sex and will now go to jail for his actions. This case underscores the crucial importance of internet surveillance by law enforcement to protect children from sexual predators. This case, and the many others my office has prosecuted over the years, should serve as a warning to parents that they must closely monitor their children’s internet activities,” said DA Brown. “Despite the numerous publicized arrests for exactly this type of behavior, sexual predators continue to relentlessly troll the internet for victims. Do not let your child become one of them.”
Tselios, a NYC Department of Education substitute special education teacher until 2015, appeared before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter and plead guilty to the four-count indictment pending against him: second-degree attempted criminal sexual act, first-degree attempted disseminating indecent material to minors, second-degree attempted patronizing a prostitute and attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
Tselios, had to surrender his passport following the criminal court arraignment and is out on $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 6, 2018, at which time he will be sentenced to three months in jail, ten years’ probation and be ordered to register as a sex offender with the state’s sex offender registry.
Authorities say that an NYPD vice detective – online and acting in an undercover capacity as a minor female child – responded to a CraigsList ad seeking “fun with a teen high schooler or younger” on July 26, 2016. Tselios wrote back and asked the “girl” her age. The undercover detective replied that he was 14 years old and an email exchange ensued, including the exchange of photos. Tselios was sent a photo of a female undercover officer. He suggested meeting the teen to “fool around.” In an email dated July 29, 2016, Tselios offered the girl a $500 incentive and arranged to meet her at 11:00 p.m. at an eatery in Forest Hills, Queens. The undercover female officer, whose picture was sent to Tselios, waited at the agreed upon location and just after midnight Tselios walked in and said “let’s go.” Tselios was arrested after he and the “girl” arrived at his parked car. Police recovered $500 in cash in his possession.
