OLD BRIDGE, NJ — An Old Bridge man admitted to producing and possessing images and recordings of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced Thursday.
Daniel Berwick, 39, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Trenton federal court to two counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
Prosecutors say he portrayed himself as a 17-year-old New Jersey boy on Snapchat, a social media app known for messages disappearing. One feature of Snapchat is that messages, photos and videos disappear after being sent.
He enticed two underage teenage girls, one in Texas and the other in California, to send him sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves.
He started talking to the first teenage girl, who lived in Texas, when she was 14.
Over the next three years, the two exchanged many messages, photos and videos of a sexual nature, according to the criminal complaint against him. (Note: The criminal complaint has extremely graphic sexual content.)
However, the girl reported Berwick to Snapchat after he threatened to send the compromising photos to her family and teachers at her high school.
Berwick also blackmailed the teen girl, saying she could pay him to not release the photos and videos. Or, she could meet him in person and have sexual intercourse with him, said federal prosecutors.
The teen girl, then 17, said she felt that due to Berwick's threats "her only way out" was to commit suicide, said police. She did not. She eventually reported Berwick on Snapchat and that's when the FBI started investigating.
Berwick then started chatting online with his second victim, a 16-year-old California girl, said prosecutors. He sent that girl money using Venmo in exchange for sexual photos and videos of herself, said police.
FBI agents executed a search warrant on Berwick's home in Old Bridge Jan. 21 of this year, and they seized his electronic devices. After searching Berwick's electronic devices, law enforcement uncovered, among other things, at least 1,000 images of child pornography, including prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, sexual abuse or exploitation of an infant or toddler, and images portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct.
He is facing up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced Dec. 21.
First report: Old Bridge Man Posed As Teen Online, Threatened To Send Sexual Pictures Of Teen Girl To Her School, Feds Say (April 2026)
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