NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Queens assistant principal was arrested Wednesday for allegedly planning to meet with someone he met on the app Grindr who he thought was a 14-year-old boy.
The Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District announced the arrest of Claudio Garcia, 41, an assistant principal at Queens Technical High School.
According to the investigation, Garcia communicated on the app with someone he initially thought was 18, but that person then said multiple times that they were in fact 14.
But officials said Garcia continued to talk to the person and made plans to meet with them at a park near where he lived in the Bronx.
When Garcia arrived at the park, the person he thought he was meeting was actually an adult male who recorded the encounter and posted it on YouTube.
The arrest came as part of a joint investigation between the special commissioner and the NYPD’s Computer Crimes Squad.
Garcia was charged with attempted criminal sex act and attempted disseminating indecent material to minors.
“There is no place in the New York City School System, nor anywhere else in our society, for this type of predatory behavior. Those who seek to prey upon our children, particularly those who are entrusted with positions of influence, must be sought out and face the full consequences of our legal system,” said Special Commissioner Anastasia Coleman.