MANCHESTER, N.H. — A former Manchester elementary school gym teacher accused of enticing young girls to send him sexually explicit photos has been sentenced to four to eight years in prison.

WMUR-TV reports that Paul Johnson-Yarosevich of Acton, Maine, pleaded guilty Friday to 12 charges of soliciting and distributing the photos. Prosecutors say the former Parker-Varney School employee posed as a teenage girl on Facebook to persuade his victims to send photos.

All five of the victims, who ranged in age from 11 to 13, were in the Manchester school district at the time. One girl’s father told the judge he couldn’t describe the pain of seeing his 11-year-old daughter question her own intelligence because of the acts of a “truly evil individual.”

Johnson-Yarosevich’s sister asked for leniency, calling him a gentle soul.


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