20 years in prison for San Antonio man child porn charges

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — A San Antonio man was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday for distributing child pornography.

72-year-old Lynn Maxwell Gerstner was also ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution and a lifetime of supervised release.

According to officials, Gerstner started a sexual online relationship with a minor from South Carolina in 2019. He reportedly openly talked about sex with the minor and asked the minor to share nude photos and sexually explicit videos, which they produced and shared with Gerstner.

Gerstner reportedly threatened to share the photos and videos with the minor’s employer when the minor tried to break off their relationship. Officials said Gerstner said the employer contacted San Antonio police said.

When police searched Gerstner’s electronic devices, officials found multiple images of child porn including photos of children as young as four years old.

According to officials, Gerstner arrived at the FBI office for a follow-up interview with a new cellphone — the day after the search warrant was executed and all of his electronic devices were confiscated — that contained “a large volume of child pornography that he had recently downloaded from his cloud account.”

FBI officials said he was in online contact with multiple underage girls.

“This defendant spent the majority of his life as a predator, exploiting young children for his own sexual gratification,” said U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff. “Even after law enforcement agents seized his devices, he immediately went out and obtained new devices so he could continue to have access to child sexual abuse materials. He not only sexually exploited minors, but he also actively attempted to cause additional harm if they didn’t comply with his sexual demands. The court recognized the increased danger he presented to our society and sentenced him appropriately.”

More about: