NY Assistant Scout Master Sentenced In Child Porn Case

An assistant scout master in upstate New York who took explicit photos of a sleeping Boy Scout on a camping trip and convinced another to send him sex pics has been sentenced to 168 months in prison.

The investigation and his subsequent arrest were made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as part of an international initiative by Homeland Security to combat child sex trafficking.

Daniel Huzinec, 26, of Buffalo, NY was convicted of receipt of child pornography after sharing photographs of male children engaged in sexually explicit conduct on a peer-to-peer website.

“This individual violated his position of trust with the Boy Scouts to exploit and take advantage of young boys under his supervision," said Kevin Kelly, special agent in charge of HSI Buffalo. "The exploitation of children is reprehensible, and HSI has teams dedicated to these types of investigations to ensure that we locate and arrest child predators and bring them to justice."

The case goes back more than two years. According to court documents out of the Western District of New York, on Jan. 27, 2015, special agents from HSI Buffalo executed a search warrant at Huzinec's home in South Buffalo. Numerous items were seized from the residence including a laptop computer. During the execution of the warrant, the agents said, the assistant scout master waived his Miranda rights and admitted that in January 2015, while chaperoning a Boy Scout camping trip, he took several sexually explicit pictures of a sleeping 16-year-old boy with his cell phone.

A subsequent forensic evaluation of the electronic evidence seized found images and videos of child pornography, including the sexually explicit pictures of the sleeping child that Huzinec had admitted to taking.

Law enforcement officers also discovered that Huzinec produced child pornography of another boy. Specifically, in November 2014, Huzinec enticed a 15-year-old boy, a former member of his Boy Scout troop, to send him sexually explicit pictures by creating a fake email account and posing as a teenage girl. Those pictures were also found on his computer.

The investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may also be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

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