A former Riverview Intermediate Unit teacher has been sentenced to 84 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to violating federal law regarding the sexual exploitation of a minor.

Michael W. Boston, 41, of Grove City, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, according to Troy Rivetti, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

On Oct. 25, 2022, Boston transported material depicting the sexual exploitation of minors by uploading the material to a cloud-based server, according to Rivetti.

As part of a plea agreement, Boston also took responsibility for transporting child sexual abuse material on two other dates in 2023 and for the possession of more than 1,500 images and videos containing child sexual abuse material across seven different electronic devices, according to Rivetti.

Many of the images depicted the sexual exploitation of toddler-aged and infant males as young as several months old. Boston’s collection of images and videos additionally depicted acts of bestiality and blindfolded children tied to stationary objects, Rivetti said.

Boston worked as a resource instructor for hearing-impaired students. In this role, he traveled to various schools across nine Pennsylvania counties to work with children from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade who suffered from hearing impairments. As a result of his conviction, Boston was fired from his teaching position and forced to surrender his teaching license, according to Rivetti.

Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District, which is partially in Butler County, is the only Butler County school district in the Riverview Intermediate Unit service area.