Middletown Xbox Pedophile Gets 46-Year Prison Sentence

FREEHOLD, NJ — A Middletown man who used his Xbox gaming system to sexually abuse young boys and bragged on YouTube about being a pedophile has been sentenced to 46 years in state prison, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.

Gary Wolchesky, 28, of Middletown, was found guilty in November of 21 counts related to the 2008 and 2009 sexual assaults of the boys, including two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child by manufacturing child pornography, the prosecutor's office said.

The sentence handed down Friday by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Richard W. English requires Wolchesky to serve 32 years, 3 months and 19 days before he is eligible for parole, the prosecutor's office said.

Wolchesky used Xbox Live to befriend four boys aged 10 to 15 during 2008 and 2009, and convinced the boys to send pictures of themselves naked to him, the prosecutor's office said. Wolchesky would ask the boys to masturbate and instructed some of them to penetrate themselves, prosecutors said. The Xbox message system only saved the photographs he received from the boys for a certain number of days, so Wolchesky would videotape himself opening the photographs that were messaged to him and saved that video to a computer hard drive. On at least one occasion he engaged in a video chat with a boy and convinced the boy to strip for him, prosecutors said.

Wolchesky was arrested in 2009 after he bragged on YouTube about being a pedophile, according to a report on NJ.com. The video where he made the claims that led to the investigation and his arrest has since been removed from YouTube.

The trial finally occurred last year after years of delays as Wolchesky, who served as his own attorney, repeatedly filed motions contesting the case, prosecutors said. He also tried to convince one of the victims to stay silent, sending a letter in 2014 that resulted in charges of contempt of court and witness tampering, the prosecutor's office said at the time.

At trial, the four boys, now young men, from Florida, Massachusetts, and North Carolina came to New Jersey to testify.

“The sexual abuse of a child is a heinous criminal act for which there is no justification. This lengthy sentence provides a level of justice for the victims and their families. I want to commend them for their cooperation during trial and their bravery in standing up to this predator,” Gramiccioni said.

Before and during the trial, Wolchesky advocated against what he viewed as the unfair treatment of pedophiles. He argued he was merely acting out of civil disobedience to advance the cause of pedophilia, the prosecutor's office said.

"Parents must talk to their children about the potential dangers of interacting with strangers on social media and gaming systems. Pay attention to your children’s online activities because a watchful eye is an added layer of defense against child predators,” Gramiccioni said.

The case was prosecuted Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors William Somers and Margaret Koping. Wolchesky represented himself at trial (pro se) with the assistance of stand-by attorney Michael Kuhns, Esq., of Morristown.

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