Long Island Registered Sex Offender Pleads Guilty To Downloading Child Pornography

Earlier today, William D. Gulick, Jr., a registered sex offender from Commack, Long Island, pled guilty at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, to receiving child pornography in interstate commerce.  The proceeding took place before United States Magistrate Judge Steven I. Locke.  At sentencing, Gulick faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 40 years in prison.

The guilty plea was announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

“Registered Sex Offenders such as the defendant are on notice that we are committed to protecting children and will vigorously prosecute those who victimize them,” stated United States Attorney Capers.  “The penalties for repeated child exploitation offenses under federal law are deservedly severe.”  Mr. Capers thanked the U.S. Immigrations Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) for their assistance in the investigation.

As detailed in the indictment and court filings, in the fall of 2014, HSI agents, as part of an ongoing effort to locate individuals sharing child pornography, traced child pornography observed via peer-to-peer online trading software back to the defendant’s Commack residence.  The images and videos he downloaded involved the rape of children as young as toddlers.  During execution of a search warrant on the residence, SCPD Emergency Services officers were forced to use a Taser device to disarm and apprehend the defendant.

Gulick, Jr. is a registered sex offender based upon a prior child abuse conviction in Suffolk County in 1998 for Sexual Abuse in the 1st Degree and a 2013 conviction for Possessing a Sexual Performance of a Child under 16.  At the time of his arrest in this case, the defendant was on probation for the 2013 conviction and had recently been released from custody.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division.  Assistant United States Attorney Allen Bode is in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendant:

William D. Gulick, Jr.
Age:  36
Commack, New York                                             

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 14 CR 608 (ADS)