By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 15 – A thirty-one year old man accused by the government of distributing pornographic images of infants and bragging that he was grooming an 11 year old boy had been freed on bond to his mother's house in Freehold, New Jersey, as exclusively reported by Inner City Press.
On September 3, 2019 Bryan Pivnick's pre-trial freedom was ended by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel.
The next day in the public docket was a trial set for January 28, 2020. On January 16, this was listed in PACER: "19-cr-00464-PKC-1 USA v. Pivnick Pretrial Conference Matthew Daniel Myers representing Bryan Pivnick (Defendant) Thomas John Wright representing USA (Plaintiff) ."
But when Inner City Press went, Pivnick was not there. Inner City Press was politely told that Pivnick had pleaded guilty.
And now on June 15, 2021, Pivnick came up for sentencing, in person, with no call-in line. Inner City Press went. Pivnick's lawyer said he was abused for 11 years by a now-dead great uncle.
But Judge Castel, when at least he spoke, read word for work (with some "f-words" as replacement) from Pivnick's Telegram messages about turning the 11 year old, and that images he had, of infants debased.
The government asked for 17 years. Judge Castel said that might be too much, but arrived at a sentence of twelve years, followed by ten years of supervised release. His lawyer said he will be appealing. Inner City Press will continue to cover this case.
Prior to the plea, with in the courtroom gallery Pivnick's mother and step-father, Inner City Press and the mother of the child at issue, Judge Castel denied Pivnick's motion to suppress his pre-arrest statement. Judge Castel said there was no way Pivnick, in his own apartment, was subject to a custodian interview requiring the reading of Miranda rights.
Then Judge Castel denied Pivnick's notion concerning his phone, find among other things exigent circumstances: Pivnick could have deleted the Telegram app on his phone. (This happened recently in a 911 health care information fraud mass indictment: a defendant asked for his phone to look for a contact, and deleted his WhatsApp and all the messages on it).
So now, the trial. Inner City Press will continue to cover this case.
Back on September 3, Pivnik arrived for a pre trial conference, as in July, in a blue blazer accompanied by his mother and step father. His lawyer Matthew Myers had filed a motion to suppress his cell phone with child pornography and boasts of grooming on it. Myers asked that the government not respond yet to his motion, since he has a mitigation brief pending.
Then it turned. Pivnik has tested positive for meth, five days after the last conference in the case at which as on September 3 Inner City Press was the only media present.
Myers tried to focus on the chain of custody of Pivnik's urine, sent to an outside lab after the person administered the test found that the sample was cold, and not as expected warm.
Judge Castel grew frustrated at the urine argument, and then began to ask about the underlying complaint, which Inner City Press covered at the time of presentment in the SDNY Magistrates Court. Pivnik bragged he was grooming the 11 year old brother of his boyfriend James.
Myers, perhaps sensing the danger to his client, said that James' mother Geraldine Chapman was at the presentment in the Mag Court. That was true - but as Inner City Press remembers is, Ms. Chapman while praising Pivnik for his work on a musical drama said she would never again allow her younger son to see him.
As Judge Castel read from the complaint, including interpreting "hee hee" as a devilish laugh, an SDNY Court Security Officer came in, then another. Clearly, remand was now a possibility.
Finally Judge Castel asked for final arguments from Assistant US Attorney Thomas John Wright, who asked for remand, and Myers, who said he had no more to say. Then after a silence in which Castel flipped through papers, the decision was reached: remand.
The two Court Security Officers surrounded Pivnik. As another case, that of Craig Smith represented by Bennett Epstein, was called the CSOs allowed Pivnik to hug his mother, who was crying. He sat in the back until two U.S. Marshals arrived. He took off his blazer.
More on Patreon here.
On May 30 Bryan Pivnick was brought in foot shackles before SDNY Magistrate Judge James L. Cott after 6 pm. Assistant US Attorney Thomas Wright, who later confirmed the spelling of Pivnick's name to Inner City Press, argued for detention.
He described Telegram messages on February 10, 2019 in which Pivnick said he was "getting close to the 11 y/o bro" of his boyfriend. The same 11 year old was found in Pivnick's apartment when he was arrested.
Now there's talk of an appeal to the Second Circuit. Inner City Press and @SDNYLIVE will stay on the case.
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