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Because there's no parole in the federal prison system, John Schulenburg of Basking Ridge will have to reach his 79th birthday in decent health before he'll taste freedom again.
Schulenburg was sentenced on Wednesday, Jan. 10, to the mandatory 10-year minimum that U.S. law requires for a repeat offender as part of a plea bargain, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
Had he gone to trial and been convicted, Schulenburg could have gotten life.
Schulenburg shared images with what turned out to be an undercover detective in July 2019.
Investigators raided his home four months later, seizing a computer that contained hundreds of images and videos of child sexual abuse -- including prepubescent youngsters having sex with adults, an FBI complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark says.
Schulenburg first made headlines in June 2013 when responders rescued him and his then-4-year-old granddaughter from drowning after their kayak capsized in the swollen Passaic River in Basking Ridge.
Three months later, Bridgewater police said they caught him capturing mages of students at a bus stop. In his 2008 Chrysler Sebring they said they found women's underwear, soiled tissues and four thumb drives.
One of the drives had images of children under 15 having sex, authorities said at the time.
Schulenburg took a deal from the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office that got him a suspended 364-day county jail sentence and three years probation in exchange for a guilty.
This time, Schulenburg pleaded guilty in federal court in Newark on Jan. 9, 2023 to child endangerment through the possession of child pornography.
In addition to the federal prison term, U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez sentenced Schulenburg to five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $58,000 in restitution.
Sellinger credited special agents with FBI Newark's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force with the investigation leading to the guilty plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Barnes of his Criminal Division in Newark. He also thanked the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office for its assistance.
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