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Irvine coach arrested on child porn charges

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Irvine police have arrested a high school baseball coach suspected of posing as a female on Facebook and convincing underage boys to send him sexual pictures of themselves.

Zachary Reeder, 30, of Orange set up a fake profile using a photo of a blonde female, police said, and used the social networking site to form relationships with his victims.

Reeder was arrested Saturday on suspicion of lewd conduct with a child, possession and distribution of child pornography, and child annoyance.

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After befriending the boys — including one whom is 14 years old — Reeder would push the relationship to be more and more inappropriate and convince them to send him explicit photos, police said.

He contacted multiple victims through the last two years, police said, but added that there is no indication he had any physical contact with them.

Reeder worked as a walk-on baseball coach at Beckman High School in Irvine for the last four seasons, police said.

Since 2008, Reeder has also taught at Servite High School in Anaheim, and police said they are investigating the possibility he used his job to target his victims.

Police believe there may be more victims and are urging anyone who has information to contact Det. Frough Jahid at (949) 724-7184 or fjahid@cityofirvine.org.

jeremiah.dobruck2@latimes.com

Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck

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