Ex-Coach Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

By Michael R. Sisak
Citizens Voice
December 19, 2012

http://citizensvoice.com/news/ex-coach-pleads-guilty-to-child-porn-charges-1.1418556

Former Holy Redeemer head football coach Joseph J. Ostrowski agreed Tuesday to plead guilty and serve 25 years in federal prison for producing child pornography and engaging in what U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith called the "sextortion" of youths in more than a dozen states.

Ostrowski, 28, of Wilkes-Barre, "persuaded and tricked" computer users into "engaging in sexually explicit acts" that he viewed over Skype, the video chat service, according to one of two indictments returned against him earlier this year.

Ostrowski extorted and attempted to extort nude photographs, images and live transmissions of sexual conduct from those online encounters and transmitted images through hacked Facebook accounts, federal prosecutors said.

The plea agreement Tuesday encompassed that indictment, returned in August in Michigan, and a May indictment in Pennsylvania that charged Ostrowski with threatening extortion and producing and attempting to produce child pornography.

"Sextortion, whether the victims are allegedly adults or minors, is an ugly and vicious crime," Smith said in a statement Tuesday. "Schools, as well as parents and potential victims, need to be alert and responsive to signs of this insidious abuse of social media."

Ostrowski's attorneys, Frank W. Nocito and Philip Gelso, declined comment Tuesday.

Ostrowski's plea agreement must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik in Scranton. Kosik has yet to schedule a hearing on the matter. If Ostrowski had opted to stand trial, he could have faced up to 37 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

The scope of Ostrowski's crimes, outlined in another indictment filed with the plea agreement Tuesday, appeared far wider than described in the May and August indictments.

According to the latest indictment, Ostrowski's production and attempted production of child pornography, interstate extortion activities and cyber stalking spanned 2006 through May 2012.

It involved youth and adult victims in Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Minnesota, Indiana, Alabama, and Maryland. Some were students participating in athletic programs, prosecutors said.

According to the August indictment, Ostrowski's Facebook and Skype scheme ran from March 2010 through last Christmas Eve. The May indictment, for attempting to produce child pornography, covered a period from Dec. 31, 2011 through April 18, 2012.

Ostrowski was the head coach at Holy Redeemer High School, a Roman Catholic school in Wilkes-Barre, for one season. The Diocese of Scranton suspended him and named a new head coach after federal agents arrested Ostrowski in the school's weight room in May on the child pornography charges.

Ostrowski waived his right to a bail hearing after his May arrest and has remained jailed ever since.



Contact: msisak@citizensvoice.com