Fired Springside Chestnut Hill Teacher Gets Nearly 40 Years for Child Porn Scheme

Fired Springside Chestnut Hill Academy math teacher Andrew Wolf, who has been sentenced to close to 40 years in prison for his role in a child porn conspiracy (photo provided)

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Fired Springside Chestnut Hill Math Teacher Andrew Wolf Sentenced In Child Porn Scheme

I’ve been covering the terrible saga of Springside Chestnut Hill math teacher Andrew Wolf since the FBI arrested him in October 2021. And I am very glad to say that I’m never going to utter his name again. That’s because a judge just sentenced Wolf to nearly 40 years in federal prison.

I’m not going to get into a great deal of detail here (you can read my previous coverage here, here, here and here if you want in-depth information about the case, but I warn you: It will make your stomach turn).

But in short, Wolf pretended to be a teenage girl online so he could get boys to send him pornographic photos and videos of themselves. And then he shared that child pornography with other pedophiles online. At first, it was unclear if Wolf’s actions involved any students at the prestigious private school. (They did.)

Wolf entered a guilty plea last June. And on Thursday, Philadelphia federal judge Mark Kearney sentenced Wolf to 18 years in federal prison for conspiracy to manufacture child pornography followed by just under 21 years for the manufacture of child pornography. A sentencing hearing for his co-conspirator is scheduled for March.

Wolf taught at Springside Chestnut Hill for close to 20 years. He was, by all accounts, one of the more popular teachers there. “We were shocked, then heartbroken, then furious,” the parent of a former student told me. “And now we’re just glad this part of the process is over.”

Main Line Furniture Store Owners In Hot Water

Thursday was also a bad day for Matt Kaplan, owner of M. Kaplan Interiors, a furniture store and interior design company in Malvern. The 15-second version is that the store took thousands of dollars from customers for pricey furniture that never materialized. According to 6ABC investigative reporter Nydia Han, Kaplan claims he didn’t do anything wrong and blamed the whole thing on supply chain issues. The Chester County District Attorney’s office would seem to disagree, since the office charged Kaplan on Thursday with 16 felony counts of theft, receiving stolen property, and deceptive business practices.

For People Who Like Lists

Forbes just came out with its new list of the 500 Best Large Employers in the country, and four Philadelphia-area employers, including Penn Medicine and Ikea (yes, the United States HQ of Ikea is in Conshohocken) made the top 100. Sorry, Comcast, but they relegated you to the 300s.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The people who want to be your next mayor are experimenting with TikTok. Things could get interesting …

Arrivederci, Angelo Cataldi

It’s time to say farewell to that sometimes lovable, sometimes not sports radio loudmouth Angelo Cataldi, whose last show is Friday. Check out Bob Huber’s excellent November 2022 look at Cataldi’s swan song here.