A San Antonio man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to one count of distributing child pornography, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Lynn Maxwell Gerstner, 72, initiated an online relationship with a minor in South Carolina in 2019, the Justice Department alleges. After the conversation became sexual in nature, Gerstner asked his victim to send explicit photos, according to authorities.
In retaliation for ending that online relationship, Gerstner contacted his victim’s employer to get the minor fired, according to the feds’ allegations. Gerstner is accused of telling a manager that the minor had been sending photos that were “extremely sexual in nature.”
Instead of canning the youth, the victim’s employer called the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, which executed a search of Gerstner’s home in April 2019, authorities said. The FBI seized cell phones and laptops from Gerstner’s home containing child pornography, according to the Justice Department.
Gerstner purchased another cell phone following the raid, according to an earlier KSAT report based on federal allegations. The man is accused of bringing that device, which contained a large amount of child pornography, to an interview with FBI agents.
The FBI later confiscated Gerstner’s replacement phone and found explicit photos of children, according to the station’s report.
“This defendant spent the majority of his life as a predator, exploiting young children for his own sexual gratification,” U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff said in Justice Department press release. “Even after law enforcement agents seized his devices, he immediately went out and obtained new devices so he could continue to have access to child sexual abuse materials. He not only sexually exploited minors, but he also actively attempted to cause additional harm if they didn’t comply with his sexual demands. The court recognized the increased danger he presented to our society and sentenced him appropriately,” Hoff said.
Gerstner pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography in June of 2020. In addition to his 20-year prison sentence, he’ll also have to pay $20,000 in restitution and spend the rest of his life on supervised release.
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This article appears in Mar 9-22, 2022.
