Former employee at Broadway Theatre camp says he made child porn

WOODBURY – A stage manager for a summer theater camp in Pitman has admitted he made child pornography by hiding a camera in a restroom to record underage boys.

Thomas Guzzi Jr., 39, also pleaded guilty Tuesday to taking an explicit photo of a child at a summer program in Vineland, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

The Pitman resident, who formerly taught fifth grade at Winslow Elementary School in Vineland, faces a recommended sentence of 17 years in prison.

His term is to include 10 years without parole eligibility, the law enforcement agency said in a statement.

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Guzzi was an advisor and stage manager for youth productions at the Vineland school and the Broadway Theatre of Pitman, according to the statement.

“Like many child predators, Guzzi sought out positions of trust in which children were placed under his supervision,” Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in announcing the guilty plea.

“He then callously violated that trust by photographing and videotaping young boys for his sexual gratification, including a vulnerable student at a school where he taught,” Grewal said.

At a court hearing in Woodbury, Guzzi admitted to making photos and videos of teenage boys urinating in restrooms at a summer camp affiliated with the Broadway Theatre, the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.

It said Guzzi created a music video of one child "that had images and video of the boy urinating edited together with video recordings of him dancing in rehearsals for the summer musical production."

"The nude photos and video recordings used in the music video and montages were culled from about three hours of restroom footage," said the statement.

Investigators alleged Guzzi had used a hidden camera placed in two restrooms, one backstage at the Broadway Theatre and the second in a rehearsal space across the street during a 2015 summer camp program

Neither restroom was open to the general public.

Guzzi also admitted he photographed a boy exposing his genitals while employed at a summer program at a second school in Vineland.

He was fired by the school district and his teaching license was revoked after his arrest in February 2016.

Guzzi, who was was scheduled to go to trial this week, was identified as a suspect after state and federal investigators monitored online file-sharing networks used to download child pornography, according to the Attorney General's Office.

"The investigators searched for digital 'fingerprints' of known child pornography, as well as search terms used by such offenders," it said.

It said computers seized from Guzzi's home held more than 600 files of child pornography, including videos of "multiple boys and adult men using restrooms."

One video showed Guzzi installing a camera in a restroom.

Guzzi pleaded guilty to official misconduct, manufacturing child pornography and distribution of 25 or more files of child pornography.

"He wanted to save his victims the trouble of of having to testify in court and the trauma of a trial," said Guzzi's attorney, Edward Crisonino of Haddon Township. "He admitted his guilt to spare them."

Under a plea agreement, he is to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and will be subject to parole supervision for life.

Guzzi is to be sentenced Sept. 27 by Superior Court Judge M. Christine Allen-Jackson in Woodbury.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post. His interests include crime, the courts, economic development and the people of South Jersey. Reach him at jwalsh.com.

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Source: Courierpostonline.com

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