Authorities say the victims are all either 12 or 13 years of age.
"The charges are very disturbing," Brown said. "A teacher is accused of preying on the young students he is entrusted to teach. A classroom should always be a safe place for a child."
Dieffenbacher, a math teacher at JHS 190Q in Forest Hills, was arraigned on Saturday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Joseph Zayas on a 16-count criminal complaint.
Brown said that, according to the charges, at various times between April 1, 2007, and February 20, 2008, Dieffenbacher sent instant messages over the Internet to eight adolescent boys who had been or were presently students in his junior high school math class.
During these conversations, it is alleged that Dieffenbacher asked the students individually if they masturbated, if they liked pornography, if they had a web cam and if they (Dieffenbacher and the student) could masturbate together and broadcast themselves masturbating over the web cameras. Thereafter, Dieffenbacher allegedly sent several of the students links to various Internet pornography sites.
He is charged with one count of use of a child in a sexual performance, three counts of attempted use of a child in a sexual performance, one count of promoting a sexual performance by a child, three counts of attempted promoting of a sexual performance by a child and eight counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Dieffenbacher, who faces up to 15 years in state prison if convicted, was ordered held on $150,000 bail and to return to court on March 10, 2008.
