Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa and a Grammy in his garage: West Coast teacher’s lies expose heinous alleged crimes

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An Oregon teacher is accused of masquerading as a former music producer with connections to superstars Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa to manipulate students into having secret sexual relationships with him, authorities said.

Ian Imamura, 28, who worked as a choir teacher and football coach at Central High School in Independence, allegedly bragged to students that he had a Grammy sitting in his garage and suggested he had famed musicians and actors on speed dial.

But the accused conman took things a step further, allegedly pretending a teen actor and even Grande herself to commit heinous sex crimes, prosecutors say.

Imamura is accused of connecting a 17-year-old girl to who she believed was teen actor Walker Scobell, tricking the girl into sending explicit videos and photos between April and June of this year, according to Fox 12 Oregon.

But Imamura had been secretly impersonating the actor, who is the lead actor in Disney+’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” Disney+” series, authorities said.

The girl even shared a remote-control link to a sex toy sent to her by who she believed was Scobell, sending videos of herself using it, prosecutors allege.

Scobell’s legal team confirmed he had nothing to do with the case.

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Imamura is accused of deepening the deception by using an account he claimed belonged to Grande.

Deputy District Attorney Shannon Clausen said Imamura sent the teen more than 13,000 texts over a year and a half while posing as Scobell and Grande, even buying her a second phone for the correspondence.

“Law enforcement learned the defendant had purchased the alleged victim a new phone, a phone that she kept secret from her parents, to communicate with the Walker persona and the Ariana Grande persona,” Clausen said.

Imamura later allegedly coached her to delete evidence when he learned the school district was investigating him in June. The Central School District referred him to law enforcement after learning he had been texting students.

The fake personas, and Imamura himself, then allegedly asked the teen to delete the messages, which prosecutors described as key evidence linking the three together.

Students had previously shared skepticisim about his famous connections.

“Pretty much anything he ever told us, we would search for online,” one former student, who was in Imamura’s classes for three years, told Fox 12. “And we would look for records and evidence and never found any of it.”

When police asked about his music producer background as they searched his phone in July, he could not answer basic questions those in the industry would know, prosecutors said. He also refused to tell investigators whether he knew Scobell. Police found a second phone belonging to him but it was wiped clean.

Police arrested him in Oregon after he allegedly lied to the school district about being in Hawaii.

Imamura’s attorney, Chris Heywood requested his client be allowed to live in Hawaii with his family as the case moves forward, given his limited connections to Oregon. Prosecutor objected, saying Imamura’s “web of lies and deceptive behavior” made him a flight risk.

A judge concurred, denying Imamura’s request to leave the state because the crime occurred over the internet and leaving the state would not make the victim safer.

Imamura has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He has been placed on administrative leave from the school and remains in Oregon.

Imamura previously worked as a student teacher at Sherwood Middle School and Sherwood High School during the 2022-2023 school year. Investigators are looking into whether he had done anything improper during those periods.