Kevin Barron agreed to the facts against him in what’s called a stipulated bench trial and was found guilty of three felony counts of corruption of minors.
Prosecutor Bridget Gallagher says Barron used Snapchat and Instagram to communicate with the children, in one case threatening a boy while he was playing a group game with friends on PlayStation.
“He was going to tell his friends really embarrassing things about him until and unless he would keep sending him naked photographs," Gallagher said.
Barron was an elementary education major before he was arrested, and Gallagher says in addition to time behind bars, prosecutors want to make sure he would never have access to children.
Defense attorney Matt Quigg says Barron did not fight the charges as he wants to put this behind him and he wants the children to be able to move on with their lives as well.
“He didn’t want these kids to have to come in and go through the experience of having to testify in court," Quigg said.
Based on an agreement between lawyers, Barron will be sentenced later this month to six to 23 months in jail followed by five years probation and at least 15 years of mandatory reporting under Megan’s Law.