On Monday, June 15, John Towers, 56, of Mahopac, pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography.
Towers is currently scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 4, 2027.
Prior to entering his guilty plea, Towers failed to appear for a court hearing on June 1 after removing his electronic monitoring device and attempting to flee. State Police then stopped Towers’ vehicle in Dover Plains and took him into custody.
The two counts of possession each carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The receipt and distribution charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of 20 years for a first offense.
‘Cooperative’ investigation
Putnam County District Attorney Robert Tendy said the case was referred to federal prosecutors following what he described as a highly cooperative law enforcement investigation.
“Our office worked closely with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and Federal authorities to ensure the defendant was convicted and receives the penalty he deserves,” Tendy said. “These are very serious crimes [and] will always be vigorously prosecuted.”
Towers was originally arrested on April 18, 2024. According to a federal criminal complaint, investigators alleged that he possessed more than 800 images and videos of females, including prepubescent females, using the bathroom. Towers allegedly recorded these through hidden cameras placed in a public park restroom in Putnam County.
Then-U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a 2024 statement that Towers violated the public’s trust by secretly installing cameras in a public restroom and using them 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,” Williams said at the time.
The investigation began after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children forwarded tips from a cloud-storage provider indicating that, in December 2023, a cellphone later identified as belonging to Towers had uploaded 57 images depicting children engaged in sexual activity.
Authorities executed search warrants at Towers’ Locust Hill Road residence, where investigators recovered 10 hidden cameras, including devices concealed inside a button and several pens.
Additional evidence seized included DVDs on which Towers allegedly acknowledged downloading child pornography from the internet, as well as a computer hard drive containing a folder of more than 800 videos referred to in court documents as “visitor videos.” According to the complaint, approximately 78 of those files were labeled “yung.”
Court records state that Towers was released on a $200,000 bond secured by his home following his arrest.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mahopac man pleads guilty to federal child pornography charges
Reporting by Michelle Grisales, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Michelle Grisales, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
