BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A former substitute teacher and coach from Cheektowaga has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges.
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced 36-year-old Steven Gasiorek pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge Williams M. Skretny to receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor. He was arrested in connection to the charges in 2019.
Gasiorek worked as a substitute teacher and athletic coach at John F. Kennedy Middle and High Schools between March 2014 and April 2019. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, during that time Gasiorek pretended to be a teenage girl from California and used a fictitious Instagram account to communicate with numerous minor males and receive child pornography.
EDITOR'S NOTE: 7 News has chosen to use Gasiorek's mugshot in accordance with our station mugshot policy, as he has pleaded guilty. You can read our full mugshot policy here.
The U.S. Attorney's office said Gasiorek knew the victims were minors and he served as a teacher or coach to some of them.
In April 2019 a search warrant was executed at Gasiorek's home and a laptop computer and external hard drive were seized. The U.S. Attorney's Office said over 600 images and videos of child pornography depicting minor males were recovered. 29 of them have been positively identified and lived in Cheektowaga, Lancaster, Virginia, Texas, and Florida.
Gasiorek faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years, a maximum penalty of 40 years, and a $250,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 27.
