Befriended by a coworker who boasted about her trips to Toronto’s sex clubs, Steven Metz soon found himself drawn to the underground lifestyle.
Over time, the Homeland Security supervisor also found himself attracted to underaged girls and, again at the urging of his coworker, started watching child pornography.
“I was involved in behavior that brought me to a moral cliff, which I jumped off," Metz said in a recent letter to the court.
Metz, the terrorism smuggling expert who admitted possessing child pornography, was sentenced Wednesday to 5 years in prison.
It was, by any standard, a fall from grace for Metz.
A 16-year veteran of Customs & Border Protection, he was an officer who had gained the respect of his colleagues and climbed the leadership ladder within Homeland Security.
By the time of his arrest, he was a nationally-recognized expert on terrorism-related smuggling and detecting hidden terrorist devices at border crossings.
“He seemed like a person who had everything," defense lawyer Jeremy A. Schwartz said Wednesday.
All of it came crashing down on Oct. 25, 2012 when investigators from Immigration & Customs Enforcement, a federal law enforcement agency allied with Customs & Border Protection, raided Metz’s home in Hamburg.
A day later, Metz, in what prosecutors describe as a suicide attempt, drove his car past a closed railroad safety barrier in Blasdell and onto some railroad tracks.
An oncoming freight train struck the rear of Metz’s car, which was demolished, and Metz suffered injuries but survived.
“He has paid an enormous toll," Schwartz said of the emotional and physical damage his client has endured.
Metz, 42, eventually pleaded guilty to having more than 600 child porn images and videos on his computer and sharing them with other individuals through emails.
In a letter to the court this month, he expressed remorse at the pain and humiliation he has caused his family, and attempted to offer an explanation for what happened to him.
He referred to his female coworker in Toronto, the person who encouraged his interest in child porn, and a barber who he claims sexually abused him as a boy.
“I have pledged my sorrow to my victims, some of which are my family," Metz told Chief U.S. District William M. Skretny.
The federal prosecutor in the case countered by suggesting Metz had brought disgrace on his former colleagues at Homeland Security.
She also referred to the size and contents of his child porn collection.
“If there’s anyone who should have known about the consequences, it was Mr. Metz," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti. “He should have known better."
Metz was a supervisor who worked out of offices at the Peace Bridge, where Customs & Border Protection officers have arrested numerous child pornography suspects.
email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com
Over time, the Homeland Security supervisor also found himself attracted to underaged girls and, again at the urging of his coworker, started watching child pornography.
“I was involved in behavior that brought me to a moral cliff, which I jumped off," Metz said in a recent letter to the court.
Metz, the terrorism smuggling expert who admitted possessing child pornography, was sentenced Wednesday to 5 years in prison.
It was, by any standard, a fall from grace for Metz.
A 16-year veteran of Customs & Border Protection, he was an officer who had gained the respect of his colleagues and climbed the leadership ladder within Homeland Security.
By the time of his arrest, he was a nationally-recognized expert on terrorism-related smuggling and detecting hidden terrorist devices at border crossings.
“He seemed like a person who had everything," defense lawyer Jeremy A. Schwartz said Wednesday.
All of it came crashing down on Oct. 25, 2012 when investigators from Immigration & Customs Enforcement, a federal law enforcement agency allied with Customs & Border Protection, raided Metz’s home in Hamburg.
A day later, Metz, in what prosecutors describe as a suicide attempt, drove his car past a closed railroad safety barrier in Blasdell and onto some railroad tracks.
An oncoming freight train struck the rear of Metz’s car, which was demolished, and Metz suffered injuries but survived.
“He has paid an enormous toll," Schwartz said of the emotional and physical damage his client has endured.
Metz, 42, eventually pleaded guilty to having more than 600 child porn images and videos on his computer and sharing them with other individuals through emails.
In a letter to the court this month, he expressed remorse at the pain and humiliation he has caused his family, and attempted to offer an explanation for what happened to him.
He referred to his female coworker in Toronto, the person who encouraged his interest in child porn, and a barber who he claims sexually abused him as a boy.
“I have pledged my sorrow to my victims, some of which are my family," Metz told Chief U.S. District William M. Skretny.
The federal prosecutor in the case countered by suggesting Metz had brought disgrace on his former colleagues at Homeland Security.
She also referred to the size and contents of his child porn collection.
“If there’s anyone who should have known about the consequences, it was Mr. Metz," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti. “He should have known better."
Metz was a supervisor who worked out of offices at the Peace Bridge, where Customs & Border Protection officers have arrested numerous child pornography suspects.
email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com