CLEVELAND — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), published as received.

CLEVELAND – A 50-year-old Niles man was sentenced to prison after he admitted to downloading and sharing thousands of child pornography files. The defendant had a pattern of related criminal activity and was previously convicted at the state level for engaging in the same exact conduct in 2019.

Daniel Scharmer was sentenced to 168 months (14 years) in prison by U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson after pleading guilty in April to:

  • Receipt and Distribution of Visual Depictions of Minors Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct
  • Possession of Child Pornography, or Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM)

He was also ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release after imprisonment. In addition, Scharmer was ordered to pay $71,500 in restitution to victims and $10,000 toward the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which was established in 2015 to impose additional assessment to offenders who commit certain crimes, including sexual exploitation and other abuse of children.

According to court documents and evidence, in June 2024, Scharmer was identified as an active participant in criminal activities involving CSAM. Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Scharmer’s residence and seized his electronic devices including two desktop computers, several hard disk drives, two portable hard drives, and five laptops. Investigators found that between Oct. 13, 2022, and Jan. 9, 2025, he received or distributed more than 32,000 files containing CSAM, including more than 11,000 involving sadism and masochism and videos of children engaged in sex acts as well as being abused by adults. Investigators identified Scharmer as one of the top three CSAM downloaders in the state of Ohio in October 2024.

In 2019, Scharmer was convicted in Trumbull County for Pandering Sexually Oriented Matter Involving a Minor and Illegal Use of a Minor in a Nudity-Oriented Material or Performance.

This case was investigated by the FBI Youngstown Resident Agency, the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Niles Police Department.

This prosecution was led by Assistant United States Attorney Margaret A. Kane for the Northern District of Ohio.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative is led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country and 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. To report child exploitation, please visit cybertipline.org, or call 1-800-843-5678, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.