Police: Germantown Man Used Yahoo! IM to Solicit Officers Posing as Teens

A Germantown special education teacher charged with several sex offenses allegedly described himself as a 27-year-old “nudist” from Washington, filmed himself performing sexual acts and allegedly initiated sexual conversations with undercover police officers who posed as 14-year-old girls via Yahoo! instant messenger, according to documents filed in Montgomery County District Court in Rockville.

Jeremy Earle Brown II, a 28-year-old teacher of autistic children at Meadow Hall Elementary School in Rockville, was released from jail Tuesday after posting $50,000 bond. Brown was charged with three counts of sexual solicitation of a minor and one count of possessing child pornography, as a result of separate online stings led by police in Michigan and Louisiana between July 5, 2010, and Jan. 20, 2011, court reords state. 

The agencies forwarded the information they gathered to Montgomery County Police, who arrested Brown on Tuesday.

Through subpoenas to Yahoo! and Verizon, police said they were able to track down IP addresses that led to Brown in Germantown. On Aug. 30, Montgomery County Police searched Brown’s home and seized three computers and two thumb drives — one of which allegedly contained 12 images of young girls.

Brown has worked in the Montgomery County Public Schools System since Nov. 2, 2006, MCPS spokesman Dana Tofig .

"The school system was informed of the investigation on Aug. 31 and he was immediately placed on leave and has not been in the classroom since," Tofig said.

Tofig said Brown had certain due process rights, but said the school system was moving forward with dismissal proceedings.

"Meadow Hall has great staff and the alleged actions shouldn't take away from that," Tofig said.

Meanwhile, court documents present the following timeline of events:

July 5-July 16, 2010 — Macomb County (Mich.) Sheriff Computer Crimes Internet crimes Against children Affiliate conducts an undercover online operation in which female officer posing as a 14-year-old girl named “Janelle” allegedly receives unsolicited messages from Brown via Yahoo! messenger. Michigan police allege the undercover officer chatted with Brown five times, four of which included web cam transmissions of Brown performing a sexual act.

Michigan police forward a search warrant to Yahoo! to obtain an IP address, which traced to Verizon Internet Services, which eventually led to Brown in Germantown.

Nov. 9, 2010 — In a separate investigation, undercover detectives from Kenner Police Department in Kenner, La., posed as 14-year-old females in a Yahoo! chat room. Louisiana police allege that Brown, who described him self as “Josh,” a “nudist” from Washington, D.C., contacted one of the undercover officers, “Ashton.” Brown allegedly performed a sexual act via web cam.

Nov. 12, 2010 — An undercover police officer, posing as a 14-year-old girl named “Emma” was allegedly contacted by Brown via Yahoo! instant messenger, who stated in an IM, “27 m dc.” Police allege that Brown told the undercover officer that he was a “nudist,” the he had been chatting with “Ashton;” Brown allegedly performed a sexual act via web cam.

Nov. 12, 2010 –Jan. 20 2011 — Louisiana police allege Brown attempted to contact the undercover officer seven times via instant messenger, citing four times in which Brown allegedly made contact with the undercover officers, including a Dec. 1 incident in which Brown allegedly invited both undercover officers onto a conference chat and then performed a sexual act via webcam.

Dec. 7, 2010  — Louisiana police subpoena IP log from Nov. 12-Dec. 1 from Yahoo!, which tracked the IP address to Verizon Internet Services, which was traced to Brown in Germantown.

Aug. 31, 2011 — Montgomery County Police execute a search warrant at Brown’s address, 12900 block of Pinnacle Drive in Germantown, and seize three computers and two thumbdrives. Police said they found evidence of chat room activity on the computers and found images of young women on one of the thumbdrives.