New Jersey teacher sentenced to 17 years for hiding camera in boy’s restroom to make child pornography
Thomas Guzzi, 40, of Pitman, taught fifth grade and was charged with possessing hundreds of images of child pornography.
A former South Jersey elementary school teacher has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for making child pornography by hiding a camera in the boys’ restroom at a theater camp where he was an adviser and stage manager for youth productions.
Thomas Guzzi Jr., 40, of Pitman, was arrested in February 2016 and charged with possessing and manufacturing hundreds of images of child pornography after detectives traced internet files back to his computer amid a federal investigation dubbed “Operation Safeguard.”
Guzzi, who taught fifth grade at Winslow Elementary School in Vineland, pleaded guilty to the charges in July and admitted to having installed a secret camera in two restrooms at Pitman’s Broadway Theater, where he was a stage manager, to record young boys using the restroom in 2015.
“Guzzi used his positions as a teacher and a stage manager at a summer theater camp to violate the privacy and innocence of children entrusted to his care,” Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said in a statement. “This lengthy prison sentence sends a strong message that we will aggressively prosecute predators like Guzzi who harm and sexually exploit children.”