Ex-suburban Chicago teacher sentenced on child porn charge

CHICAGO (AP) - A 54-year-old former suburban Chicago school teacher has been sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography and encouraging young boys to produce sexually explicit images of themselves.

A statement from federal prosecutors says John C. Vastis began communicating online with one victim three years ago. It says the Lakemoor man encouraged the boy for nearly a year to take the video and photo images, then to send them to Vastis.

Vastis was arrested in 2014 and pleaded guilty last year to accessing child pornography with intent to view. He was sentenced in Chicago on Tuesday.

The U.S. attorney's office statement says Vastis formerly worked as a teacher at Buffalo Grove's Meridian Middle School. It adds there were no allegations of sexual exploitation of his students.