Brooklyn science teacher charged with sexually abusing students

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City high school science teacher who was already facing charges of sending a sexually explicit photograph to a student was arrested at court on Tuesday on new charges of sexually abusing six other teenage girls, prosecutors said. Sean Shaynak, 44, was arraigned on 36 new counts, including kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, disseminating indecent material, forcible touching and sexual abuse, among other charges, according to the criminal complaint. Shaynak preyed on at least seven female students, all teenagers, between 2011 and this year, according to a statement from Kenneth Thompson, Brooklyn's district attorney. Shaynak is pleading not guilty to all the charges, his lawyer, Kimberly Summers, said, declining to give further details. He was originally arrested a month ago amd charged with sending a 16-year-old student a sexually explicit photograph and harassing her, and was at Brooklyn Supreme Court on Tuesday for a hearing in that case. Since the first arrest, investigators found thousands of text messages and hundreds of photos and videos on his phone and computer that suggested he victimized six other teenage girls, Thompson's statement said. According to the statement, Shaynak took a 15-year-old student to a nude beach in New Jersey without her parents' consent, sent photographs of his genitals to four students, had consensual sex with two students aged 18 and 19, and asked two minor girls to have sex with each other. While the cases proceed, Shaynak has been suspended from Brooklyn Technical High School, the prestigious public high school attended by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's son. Judge Martin Murphy set a $1 million bond as bail in the two cases. The victims' names are not being released because some of them are minors and because of the sexual nature of the charges, the prosecutor's office said. Shaynak, who remains in custody, is due back in court on Nov. 25. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Jim Loney)