Posted on: June 06, 2025 09:20 AM

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Former Riverhead high school teacher and coach indicted for promoting a sexual performance by a child

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Ryan McCaffery, 37 of Ridge, was indicted for Promoting a Sexual Performance by a Child, and several related charges, for allegedly requesting nude images from underage girls and sending explicit images of himself to them.

“We aggressively prosecute those who would exploit their positions of trust to harm children,” said District Attorney Tierney. “The allegations in this indictment are truly disturbing. Our office remains committed to protecting our children and holding alleged predators accountable for their actions.”

According to the investigation, on November 4, 2024, the New York State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an individual had allegedly shared child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Kik, a messaging application. On January 17, 2025, the New York State Police executed a search warrant at McCaffery’s Ridge home that allegedly yielded several electronic devices.

A digital forensic analysis of the devices revealed that McCaffery had allegedly been posing as a teenaged boy and engaging in chats with multiple underage girls on Snapchat, sending images of his exposed genitals and requesting nude images from the minors. Further investigation and additional search warrants yielded evidence that McCaffery had allegedly attempted to view and purchase additional abusive images and had shared at least one such video with another user on Kik.

The investigation further revealed that McCaffery, using the Snapchat name “c_chambers77,” had allegedly “quick added” hundreds of random accounts, in order to communicate with female children.

McCaffery had also been investigated by New York’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in January 2023, when they were alerted by Bergen County, New Jersey Detectives who had been contacted by the parents of a minor female in October 2022 to report that their daughter had been communicating with a user on Snapchat who had allegedly solicited nude images and videos from the child and sent the child nude photos and videos of himself. Through the investigation, the New York State Police and Bergen County Detectives determined that the unknown Snapchat user who had been communicating with the minors was allegedly McCaffery, and that McCaffery was employed as a Riverhead High School social studies teacher and Junior Varsity boys soccer coach until he resigned on February 5, 2025. He was arrested and charged with sexual assault, child endangerment, and lewdness on February 14, 2025, in Bergen County, New Jersey. The New Jersey case remains pending.

McCaffery was arrested by the New York State Police for his alleged Suffolk County crimes on May 12, 2025, following an extensive investigation.

On June 4, 2025, McCaffery was arraigned on the indictment before Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis for the following charges:

• One count of Promoting a Sexual Performance by a Child as a Sexually Motivated Felony, a Class D felony;

• One count of Promoting a Sexual Performance by a Child, a Class D felony;

• Three counts of Attempted Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance as a Sexually Motivated Felony, a Class D felony;

• Three counts of Attempted Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance, a Class D felony;

• Three counts of Disseminating Indecent Material to Minors in the First Degree as a Sexually Motivated Felony, a Class D felony;

• Three counts of Disseminating Indecent Material to Minors in the First Degree, a Class D felony;

• One count of Possessing a Sexual Performance by a Child, a Class E felony; and

• Three counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a Class A misdemeanor.

From DA