Male Gilroy teacher accused of acting as female porn star online

Douglas Anton Le, 25, was charged with simulating sexual conduct and annoying or molesting a child, among other offenses, on Monday June 27, 2016. Douglas Anton Le, 25, was charged with simulating sexual conduct and annoying or molesting a child, among other offenses, on Monday June 27, 2016. Photo: Santa Clara County DA / Santa Clara County District Attorney Photo: Santa Clara County DA / Santa Clara County District Attorney Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Male Gilroy teacher accused of acting as female porn star online 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A 25-year-old Gilroy High School teacher who posed as a teenage girl online to receive lewd images and videos from male students faces at least 20 charges in the case, prosecutors said.

Starting in June 2014 and lasting 18 months, at least nine teenage boys in Santa Clara County thought they were getting into an online relationship with a teenage girl named Rae Pelletier, police said.

The victims later found out they were exchanging lewd images and videos with Douglas Anton Le, a chemistry teacher who used the avatar of a porn star to lure the boys on the Facebook messenger app, prosecutors said.

Le was charged Monday with possession of matter depicting a minor engaging or simulating sexual conduct and annoying or molesting a child, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.

Le was also charged with nine counts of sending harmful matter to a minor and nine counts of communicating with a minor with the intent to commit the crime.

The communication lasted from June 2014 through at least January 2016, officials said. Using the pictures of an adult pornography star as his avatar, he misled students as he traded texts and explicit photographs and videos.

The students believed they were “involved in an online relationship with a female persona,” said Officer Albert Morales, a San Jose police spokesman.

Victims included students at Gilroy High School, where he taught chemistry, and several other Santa Clara County high schools, police said.

“This is a deeply-troubling example of why young people should be extremely wary of strangers that they decide to communicate with online,’’ Deputy District Attorney Jaron Shipp said in a statement. “Not everybody has bad intentions. Some absolutely do.”

Facebook alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in April 2016 that “Rae Pelletier” may be having inappropriate communication with minors, officials said. An investigation opened that led to the execution of a search warrant at Le’s home, where authorities seized several computers, hard drives, and other media.

A task force within the San Jose Police Department arrested Le at Gilroy High School on April 26, Morales said. Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Le and the Gilroy Unified School District since his arrest.

One suit, filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, was on behalf of a victim who was 15-years old when the communication started. It alleges Le would give F’s to students he also targeted online, then allow them to attend an after school “tutoring” session to boost their grades.

At the session, he would “verbally and sexually harass, intimidate and abuse the targeted students,” the suit states.

The suit also claims the high school and the school district had suspected the abuse and harassment before his arrest but did nothing to monitor him or further investigate.

Gilroy Unified School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno