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Guard at Somers youth home charged
in child porn case
July 14, 2007
By Timothy O'Connor
YORKTOWN - A security guard at a
home for troubled youths shared photos of bound and gagged boys and
discussed in Internet chat rooms a desire to sexually abuse
children, federal authorities said.
Henry P. Steeneck, 36, of 2676 Old
Yorktown Road was arrested Thursday by FBI agents when he returned
from his overnight shift at Lincoln Hall, a residential treatment
center in Somers that houses about 240 teenage boys from around the
state. He was charged with two felony counts of distributing child
pornography.
FBI agents, Westchester County
police and Yorktown police searched Steeneck's home and seized eight
computers and three handguns. Steeneck shares the white-sided
split-level ranch house in the family neighborhood with his older
brother, Stephen.
Neighbors yesterday described
Steeneck as someone who kept to himself, who didn't offer much more
than a wave when he pulled out of his driveway.
"It's very shocking, it really is,"
said Anne-Marie Delfavero, a 29-year-old mother of three small
children who lives across the street from Steeneck. "You think you
know your neighborhood."
Delfavero's next-door neighbor, Bob
Fahey, said the Steenecks had lived across the street from him since
he moved to Old Yorktown Road in 1993. In all that time, he said, he
never even met Henry.
"It would be worse if I knew him
personally," said Fahey, a father of a 14-year-old boy and
9-year-old girl. "It would disturb me greatly if it was someone I
knew."
Delfavero and Fahey said they never
saw any children around the Steeneck house, and Steeneck is not
charged with abusing any minors. But federal authorities said he
discussed the notion of swapping children with others for sexual
abuse and drugging them to facilitate the acts during sessions on
July 2 and 3 in an Internet chat room.
Steeneck does not have any children
of his own. U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said the investigation is
continuing.
Steeneck's lawyer did not return
calls seeking comment. His brother did not answer the door at their
home yesterday, but did come out to shoo a camera crew off his
property, shielding his face with the lid from a cardboard box.
Steeneck has worked as an overnight
security guard at Lincoln Hall since February, said Jack Flavin, the
executive director of the 460-acre home for troubled youths. Flavin
said the facility was not a detention center but was a residential
treatment center for youths 12 to 18 from across the state who are
placed there by state courts.
Steeneck was hired after a complete
background check that included fingerprinting, Flavin said.
"There was nothing in his history
that indicated any problem," Flavin said.
Steeneck, a former second assistant
chief of the Somers Fire Department, was never alone with any of the
youths, Flavin said. Other staff members were always around during
his overnight shifts. Steeneck guarded a cottage that housed 24
students in a dormitory.
"There's no allegation of any
impropriety by him here at Lincoln Hall," Flavin said.
Federal agents and local police
visited the center Thursday and inspected the cottage where Steeneck
worked. They did not speak to any of the youths. They subpoenaed and
received Steeneck's personnel records.
"I will say we're shocked," Flavin
said. "We run a very tight ship here. We have no real history with
him."
Flavin said there would be no
official determination about Steeneck's employment until the
criminal case is resolved. But Steeneck won't be welcome back at
Lincoln Hall, he said.
"He's not going to be working here,
that's clear," he said.
Steeneck was ordered held without
bail by U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson during a hearing in
federal court in White Plains. He faces a minimum of five years and
maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted of either of the charges.
Reach Timothy O'Connor at
tpoconnor@lohud.com or 914-694-3523.
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