EMPLOYEE OF WESTCHESTER JUVENILE TREATMENT CENTER CHARGED
WITH DISTRIBUTING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OVER THE INTERNET

MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that HENRY P. STEENECK, an employee of Lincoln Hall, a juvenile treatment center in Somers, Westchester County, New York, was arraigned late yesterday before United States Magistrate Judge LISA MARGARET SMITH in White Plains federal court on felony charges of distributing child pornography over the internet. STEENECK was subsequently ordered detained by United States District Judge STEPHEN C. ROBINSON.

According to the two-count Complaint, in July 2007, during the course of several Internet chats with undercover law enforcement officers, STEENECK sent via computer several photographs containing child pornography. According to the Complaint, which is attached, the photographs depicted what appeared to be minor males, some of whom were gagged and had their hands and feet bound.

According to information presented at the court proceeding yesterday, during the course of some of these chats STEENECK, in addition to sending the images, allegedly discussed, in explicit terms, having participated in or wanting to participate in acts of sexual abuse against children. Some of the chats also included explicit discussion of providing drugs to children to facilitate the sexual abuse of those children. Law enforcement officers recovered numerous computers from the defendant’s home, and recovered a laptop computer and a sex toy from his car.

If convicted, STEENECK faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on each of the two counts.

Mr. GARCIA praised the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Digital Evidence Section, Forensic

Investigation Unit, Westchester County Police Department; and the Yorktown Police Department in connection with this investigation. He said that the investigation was continuing.

Assistant United States Attorney RICHARD C. TARLOWE is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

07-180

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