NY Worker Jailed For Child Porn Takes Overtime Suit To High Court

NEW YORK CITY — A former rising star among New York Democrats, whose career was cut short when he pleaded guilty to child pornography possession, isn't giving up the fight for $27,000 in unpaid overtime he says the city owes him, court records show.

Jacob Schwartz — former Manhattan Young Democrats president and city employee — filed Tuesday a notice to appeal the ruling of his wage theft case against New York, records from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit show.

Schwartz, 34, filed in 2019 a lawsuit — alleging the city underpaid him for two years' employment as a computer programmer for the Department of Design and Construction —which was dismissed in Manhattan federal court earlier this month, according to court records.

The lawsuit argued Schwartz was unable to seek recourse after being fired in May 2017, when police found more than 3,000 child pornography images on his laptop, according to a DNAinfo report.

Schwartz pleaded guilty to one charge of promoting sexual performance by a child and spent more than a year in an upstate medium security prison, according to reports and the New York Department of Corrections.

His appeal notice was filed Tuesday by Schwartz' attorney and father, Greenwich Village District Leader Arthur Schwartz, records show.

The elder Schwartz did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment, but has noted in past articles that his son served his time and sought therapy to address what he called a "personal tragedy."