School Occupational Therapist Accused Of Child Sexual Exploitation

PORT JERVIS, NY — A school occupational therapist was accused of having child pornography and sexually exploiting a child.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Monday the arrest of Michael Meyers, 62, of Port Jervis.

He was charged with sexual exploitation of a child and receipt and distribution of child pornography and presented in White Plains federal court.

Williams said Meyers’s conduct was disturbing, “especially given that Meyers was entrusted with the care of children for many years as an occupational therapist at a school.”

Prosecutors said a review of Meyers’s phone revealed the existence of communications between him and a 16-year-old on the online application Discord.

Through the communications, the teen sent Meyers several sexually explicit photos of themselves at Meyers’s request.

Records received by law enforcement indicate that Meyers was employed as an occupational therapist at a school in Oceanside from around September 1998.

The child sexual exploitation charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The pornography charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.