Yesterday, Daniel Zachary Dasko, a 32-year-old former teacher's aide and youth hockey coach from Carlsbad, California, was sentenced to 188 months in prison for sending sexually explicit images of children to others online.
According to the Department of Justice, the investigation into Dasko began in July 2021 when the FBI's Philadelphia Division received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which led them to uncover a group involved in uploading child pornography. Dasko, using the alias "Mr. Pickles," communicated with a teacher in Philadelphia and was further implicated in a circle of abusers who exchanged images and videos of minors. The evidence uncovered during the search included disturbing conversations about sexually exploiting children known or met online.
Teacher’s Aide and Youth Hockey Coach Sentenced to More Than 15 Years for Distributing Sexually Explicit Images of Children https://t.co/oQcHFOnasB
— US Attorney CAS (@SDCAnews) September 19, 2023
Dasko and his co-conspirators used social media to lure victims, engaging in a sinister practice known as "catfishing." The abusers posed as females on social media platforms, moved their communications to closed applications, and baited their victims into sending nude photos or videos or going live online, capturing the explicit content on-screen recordings. In one horrifying example, Dasko distributed a video of a 13-year-old boy masturbating, who had been catfished by one of his co-conspirators.
As reported by Acting U.S. Attorney Andrew Haden, Dasko is "a sexual predator who used his position as a teacher and coach to inform his sexual interests and to target kids for online abuse."
In response to the case, FBI San Diego Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy expressed her pride in the agents' and law enforcement partners' efforts to bring Dasko and his co-conspirators to justice.
Facing a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Daniel Dasko is scheduled to report to prison on October 3.
