FORMER LOCAL FIREFIGHTER PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHARGES OF PRODUCTION AND POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Garey A. Buscaino, 48, of Pensacola, Florida, has pleaded guilty in federal court on charges related to a decade long pattern of producing and possessing child pornography. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced the charges.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said, “Protecting our children from exploitation and the predations of sick individuals like this offender remains one of my office’s highest priorities, and I deeply appreciate the outstanding investigative work of our state and federal law enforcement partners who helped bring him to justice. My office will continue to relentlessly pursue offenders who victimize our children and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”

Court documents reveal that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an online user in Northwest Florida possessed what appeared to be child pornography in a cloud account. Upon looking into the account and obtaining a search warrant for it, law enforcement determined that it not only contained child pornography from the internet but also what appeared to be hidden camera produced pornographic videos of unsuspecting minor females.

Based upon the content of the cloud account, and further investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement linked the account to the defendant and obtained a search warrant for his local residence and firehouse. Located within, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task force seized dozens of electronic devices from the defendant. Contained within these devices were hidden camera-produced pornography videos of five minor females in various states of undressing in bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as thousands of graphic images and videos of sexual child abuse from the internet. Some of these images and videos captured victims as young as toddlers being sexually abused.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 15, 2026, before United States District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II.  Buscaino faces up to 30 years’ imprisonment as to each minor victim for the Production of Child Pornography and up to 20 years’ imprisonment as to the Possession of Child Pornography Involving Minors Under the Age of 12 Years Old.  

The case is being jointly investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General.  To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.