John Capuano Used His Work Phone as a Teachers’ Union Rep to Access Child Pornography
Earlier today, John Capuano, a New York City school guidance counselor and teachers’ union representative, was sentenced at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, to five years’ imprisonment followed by 10 years of supervised release following his March 2016 guilty plea to Transportation of Child Pornography in Interstate and Foreign Commerce. The sentencing proceeding was held before United States District Judge Denis R. Hurley. During his supervised release, Capuano must register as a sex offender, and he will not be allowed unsupervised contact with minors.
The sentence was announced by Bridget M. Rohde, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York.
“As a school guidance counselor and educator, Capuano had a mandatory obligation in New York State to report child abuse," stated Acting United States Attorney Rohde. “Instead, he victimized children by sharing images of their rape and abuse with others online. Protection of our children remains a top priority of this Office, and we will continue to vigorously prosecute such offenses." Ms. Rohde extended her grateful appreciation to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, for its assistance in the investigation.
“Capuano had been a trusted educator within the community while posting pornographic images of children as young as three," stated ICE-HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Melendez. “Further, he used his work phone as a teachers’ union rep to download images. Protecting children is a priority and we will relentlessly investigate and pursue cases of child predators who hide behind their computer screens and bringing them into the light."
As set forth in the charging instruments and at the defendant’s plea allocution, in April 2015, an undercover HSI agent, as part of an ongoing effort to locate individuals sharing child pornography, found child pornography images and videos involving children as young as 3-5 years’ old which had been posted by Capuano to a chat room in a publicly available Internet application. After tracing location information for the account used to post the images, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on May 28, 2015, at Capuano’s residence in Valley Stream, New York.
During the search, Capuano spoke with law enforcement personnel following a waiver of his Miranda rights and admitted that he used the Internet application to trade child pornography and posted the images located by the undercover agent. Capuano also identified his personal telephone and his work telephone as a teachers’ union representative as devices he used to access these materials. Capuano was arrested at that time and remains incarcerated.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorney Allen Bode is in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
JOHN CAPUANO
Age: 44
Valley Stream, New York
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 15 CR 312 (DRH)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
