Politics

Former De Blasio Staffer Pleads Guilty To Child Pornography Charges

Bill_de_Blasio | Circa November 2013 | By Kevin Case from Bronx, NY, USA (Bill de Blasio) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Jacob Schwartz, a former staffer for New York Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, pleaded guilty to child pornography charges Tuesday and faces up to three years in prison.

Schwartz was arrested in December of 2017 and admitted to downloading over 3,000 child pornographic pictures as well as almost 90 videos featuring children as young as 6 months old engaging in sexual acts, The Villager reported.

Upon his arrest, Schwartz was fired from de Blasio’s office. He first worked as an intern for de Blasio’s administration in 2015. He was then employed as a computer programmer analyst with the Department of Design and Construction, working for Build It Back.

Schwartz was also the president of the Manhattan Young Democrats and the Downstate region vice president of the New York State Young Democrats, according to The Villager. His name was deleted from both of the websites after news of his arrest got out.

Former NYC Mayor De Blasio staffer Jacob Schwartz expected to spend up to 3 years behind bars after pleading guilty Tuesday to possessing kiddie porn – @nypost

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 28, 2019

Schwartz’ father was a labor lawyer who worked as New York counsel to then-Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, the Washington Times reported.

After his arrest, Schwartz was released on bail and was living with his mother. His father, Arthur Schwartz, told The Villager that his son was going to therapy for this “kind of psychiatric illness.”

“It’s an illness and it can go into remission — and that’s my hope,” Arthur said to The Villager.

“He didn’t learn it from me.”

Mayor de Blasio’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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