Feds: Hagaman man admits hiding camera, filming minor in bathroom

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John D. Salisbury

ALBANY — A Hagaman man admitted last week he sexually exploited children by hiding a camera in a bathroom on multiple occasions and possessing child pornography, authorities said.

John D. Salisbury, 48, appeared in U.S. District Court Friday and pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of transportation of child pornography.

He faces possible decades in prison. In his plea deal, he agreed that he could not appeal any sentence up to 30 years in prison. A judge will have the final say.

Salisbury was indicted in January on each of the five counts. The accusations were largely based on charges leveled against him at the time of his December 2017 arrest by state police. A judge in January ordered him detained pending trial.

Salisbury admitted Friday that on four occasions between October 2016 and February 2017, he used a hidden camera inside the bathroom of his residence to produce sexually explicit videos depicting a minor, federal prosecutors said in a release.

He also admitted that he knowingly uploaded photos and videos depicting child pornography from a smartphone to an Internet-based email account, prosecutors said.

The Leader-Herald reported at the time of Salisbury’s initial arrest that he was a volunteer at St. Mary’s Institute in Amsterdam and coached the after-school junior girls’ basketball team.

In all, Salisbury faces at least 15 years and up to 30 years on each of the exploitation counts and between 5 and 20 years on the transportation count, prosecutors said.

He is to be sentenced in October.

The case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance of the state police Troop G Computer Crimes Unit and prosecuted by assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet J. O’Hanlon.