NEWARK, N.J. - A Bayonne, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 480 months in prison for producing and possessing images and videos of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Gregory John Schaffer, 39, was previously found guilty on all three counts of an indictment charging him with two counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. He was convicted following a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares, who imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in the case and the evidence at trial:
In 2010, Schaffer sexually abused a 12-year-old girl in a tow-truck office in Union City, New Jersey, and video recorded the abuse without her knowledge. He later stored the video recording on a laptop computer found by law enforcement in his office in Jersey City, New Jersey. Schaffer also backed-up the video recording to another electronic storage device found in his office.
Around the same time, Schaffer also sexually abused a 14-year-old girl in a hotel room and video recorded the abuse without her knowledge. Schaffer again stored the video recording on the same laptop computer and electronic storage device that law enforcement found in his office.
Law enforcement also found additional sexually explicit videos and images of minors on Schaffer’s laptop computer and electronic storage device.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Linares sentenced Schaffer to lifetime supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York Field Office under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Angel M. Melendez; special agents of the U.S. Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge David E. Beach, New York Field Office; and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Esther Suarez, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason S. Gould and Meredith Williams of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
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Defense counsel: Thomas Ambrosio Esq., of Lyndhurst, New Jersey
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
