A former New York City corrections officer, Celeste Ramirez, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for distributing child pornography. The sentence was announced by United States Attorney David Metcalf and handed down by United States District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl. In addition to the prison term, Ramirez will face 10 years of supervised release and is required to pay $38,000 in restitution.
Ramirez was indicted on these charges in March 2023 and pleaded guilty earlier this year. She will also be required to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) as mandated by federal and state law.
Court documents reveal that in February 2022, while employed by the New York Department of Corrections, Ramirez distributed six videos depicting child pornography through Telegram to an individual identified as Person 1, located in Easton, Pennsylvania.
The investigation into Ramirez’s activities began when Pennsylvania State Police received a Cybertip about Person 1 using Snapchat to distribute child pornography. During the investigation, Person 1 confessed to receiving such material from a New York City corrections officer known as “CeCe,” later identified as Celeste Ramirez.
In November 2022, federal agents executed a search warrant at Ramirez’s residence where they discovered hundreds of videos of child pornography on her phone. It was revealed that Ramirez had communicated with several individuals online for distributing and receiving child pornography.
One of those individuals was Cleveland Dewayne Chambers, who informed Ramirez about another woman offering to produce explicit images of an infant. This woman was later identified as Raven Pointer. Chambers shared these images with Ramirez and discussed how the abuse should occur. He then sent additional explicit content produced by Pointer to Ramirez.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative coordinates efforts among federal, state, and local resources to prosecute offenders and rescue victims.
The investigation was conducted by the Pennsylvania State Police and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Priya De Souza is prosecuting the case.
