Suffolk County Community College professor Philip Schuler, of Port Jefferson, charged with attempted enticement of a minor for sexual activity

A Suffolk County Community College history professor who thought he was arranging a tryst with a Valley Stream teen — but was actually communicating with an FBI agent — has been charged with attempted enticement of a minor for sexual activity.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Locke ordered Philip Schuler, of Port Jefferson, to be held without bail after an arraignment on Monday afternoon in federal court in Central Islip. Schuler’s attorney, Felipe Garcia of the Federal Defenders, told Locke he would submit a bail package at a later date.

Garcia declined to discuss the charge with Newsday after Monday’s arraignment.

A source familiar with the case confirmed that Schuler was a history professor at Suffolk County Community College. A spokeswoman for the school did not return requests for comment.

According to a criminal complaint prepared by an FBI agent, officials received a tip in September from the Decoy Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children from online sex offenders, about sexually explicit conversations on social media between Schuler, 53, and someone purporting to be a 13-year-old girl.

“During these conversations, the defendant discussed having the purported minor travel to New York to visit him,” the court papers said.

A member of the FBI’s Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking Unit, posing as a 13-year-old girl named “Chloe,” contacted Schuler on social media on Oct. 31, according to a criminal complaint. During subsequent conversations, Schuler expressed interest in having sex with “Chloe” — the task force member posing as a teen.

Schuler and “Chloe” agreed to meet on Wednesday at Edward W. Cahill Memorial Park in Valley Stream after “Chloe” finished with school. Schuler again expressed interest in having sex and told “Chloe” he would bring her Christmas gifts and contraceptives, the court papers said.

“The defendant told law enforcement that he was in love with the FBI Decoy and only wanted to meet her to see if she was real,” prosecutors said in court papers.

FBI agents tailed Schuler on Wednesday after he left his Port Jefferson home in his 1998 Volvo and drove to Valley Stream. Schuler was arrested that afternoon, the complaint said. The history professor told authorities that he had rented a motel room in Merrick earlier that day. Officials recovered spermicide, a laptop, and gifts for “Chloe” from the room.

Schuler acknowledged that “Chloe” was 13 years old, and that he had arranged the meeting, the complaint said.

Schuler has been in the custody of the FBI since his arrest, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James Scahill told Locke, adding that the defendant had been in a mental health facility because he had made statements about hurting himself. Garcia asked the judge to have Schuler placed on a suicide watch while in custody.