Mahopac Man Charged With Sexual Exploitation Of A Minor And Possession Of Child Pornography

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the unsealing of a Complaint charging JOHN TOWERS with sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography. TOWERS was arrested this morning and presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause in White Plains federal court.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: "John Towers's alleged disturbing conduct violated the public's trust by placing hidden cameras in a public bathroom and using those cameras to capture sexually explicit images of children. As today's arrest shows, we will use every tool available to law enforcement to investigate and prosecute those alleged to have sexually exploited children."

As alleged in the Complaint filed on April 17, 2024, in White Plains federal court and unsealed today:[1]

From at least on or about July 24, 2018, up to and including at least on or about December 9, 2019, TOWERS placed hidden cameras in a bathroom in a privately owned, public park in Putnam County, New York, to surreptitiously record prepubescent minors in order to capture sexually explicit images of the minors. TOWERS then transferred the recordings to a hard drive.

Following the execution of a search warrant at TOWERS's residence, law enforcement recovered a hard drive that was found to contain over 800 videos of females, including prepubescent females, using a bathroom. Approximately 78 of the videos had file names that included the term "yung."

On or about March 29, 2024, TOWERS, while in Putnam County, New York, possessed DVDs containing video files he downloaded from the internet depicting prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit activity.

On March 29, 2024, TOWERS was arrested and charged in Carmel Town Court in Putnam Valley with two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child less than 17 years old, three counts of possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child. He was on bail at the time of today's arrest.

Anyone who may have relevant information regarding JOHN TOWERS is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324).

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JOHN TOWERS, 54, of Mahopac, New York, is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and one count of possession of child pornography, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Williams praised the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Putnam County District Attorney's Office, and the Putnam County Sherriff's Office in connection with this investigation.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office's White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia S. Cohen is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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