Lakewood man admits to posing as 11-year-old girl to exploit a minor in Oklahoma
TRENTON−A registered sex offender from Lakewood whom authorities said posed as an 11-year-old girl online to persuade a girl in Oklahoma to send him explicit videos admitted in federal court Wednesday to the sexual coercion of the child, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Samuel Schwinger, 37, Lakewood pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Georgette Castner in Trenton to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Schwinger admitted that from October 2018 through April 5, 2019, he contacted more than 25 minors for the purpose of producing and distributing images of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement
In March 2019, Schwinger used an app to text the Oklahoma girl, who was under the age of 12, asking the victim to make the videos of her for him, according to court records and testimony.
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The child sexual abuse scheme was uncovered after the girl's parents filed a complaint with the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, authorities said.
When Schwinger was arrested on April 5, 2019, he tried to hide his cell phone under a couch as law enforcement officers closed in on him, authorities said. Investigators found more than a thousand images of child sexual abuse and dozens of conversations with minors stored on his iPhone, according to an affidavit in the federal case.
Schwinger was initially charged by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office. The status of the New Jersey criminal charges against him was not immediately available.
After his 2019 arrest, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detainer for Schwinger, according to the Ocean County Department of Corrections. Details of that detainer were not provided.
Schwinger became a registered sex offender following a conviction in Kings County SupremeCourt in Brooklyn for a criminal sexual act, according to the affidavit.
Schwinger's sentencing is scheduled for June 27 in Trenton federal court.
The charge he pleaded guilty to can carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Ken Serrano covers crime, breaking news and investigations. Reach him at 732-643-4029.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Lakewood NJ man who posed as girl to lure minors admits to coercion
