Lakewood Man Pleads Guilty To Federal Child Porn Charge

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A Lakewood man has pleaded guilty in federal court to coercing a girl under the age of 12 into making sexually explicit videos, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

Samuel Schwinger, 37, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Georgette Castner in Trenton to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

The count he pleaded guilty to was in connection with a March 2019 incident where he communicated with the girl through an app, asking her to make sexually explicit videos of herself and send them to him, authorities said.

Schwinger was arrested in April 2019 following an investigation by the Ocean County prosecutor's office that started in Oklahoma. The girl's parents contacted the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Department in Oklahoma, saying their daughter had been contacted by someone in New Jersey posing as a young girl and asking their daughter to send explicit videos of herself.

Oklahoma authorities traced the request to a phone number and account registered to Schwinger, who already was serving 10 years of probation in connection with a sexual assault in New York.

The investigation found hundreds of videos and photos of children under age 16 engaged in sexual activity on Schwinger's phones. He was charged by federal authorities after that.

In federal court, Schwinger admitted that from October 2018 through April 5, 2019, he communicated with more than 25 minor victims for the purpose of producing and distributing sexually explicit material.

The charge of sexual exploitation of a minor carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for June 27.