Guidance Counselor Posted Child Porn in Chat Rooms: Officials

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY - A New York City school guidance counselor and teacher's union representative pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in court on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

John Capuano, 43, of Valley Stream, pleaded guilty to transportation of child pornography in interstate and foreign commerce and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years.

In April 2015, an undercover Homeland Security investigations agent, as part of an ongoing effort to locate people sharing child pornography, found child pornography images and videos involving children as young as 3 to 5 years old which had been posted by Capuano to a chat room in a publicly available internet application, federal officials said.

After tracing location information for the account used to post the images, law enforcement obtained a search warrant and executed on May 28, at Capuano’s home in Valley Stream.

During the search, Capuano spoke with law enforcement personnel and admitted that he used the Internet application to trade child pornography and posted the images discovered by the undercover agent, according to the U.S. Attorney.

He also admitted he used both his personal phone and his work phone as a teacher’s union representative to access these materials, according to the U.S. Attorney.

Capuano was arrested and remains incarcerated.

“Protecting the vulnerable, particularly children, is a priority for law enforcement and this Office,” U.S. Attorney Robert L. Capers said. “This crime was particularly egregious in that Capuano was a school guidance counselor entrusted with ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children while he at the same time was victimizing them by distributing images of child pornography.”