A former Riverhead High School teacher and coach pleaded guilty Monday to charges stemming from online exchanges in which he posed as a teenage boy, solicited nude images from underage girls and sent them sexually explicit images of himself, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Ryan McCaffery, 38, of Ridge, pleaded guilty Sept. 21 to two counts of first-degree disseminating indecent material to minors as a sexually motivated felony and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
He is expected to be sentenced to three years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision when he returns to court Oct. 21, prosecutors said. The plea was entered before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis.
McCaffery worked as a social studies teacher and junior varsity boys soccer coach at Riverhead High School. He resigned from his teaching position Feb. 5, 2025, according to the district attorney’s office.
The investigation began Nov. 4, 2024, when the New York State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone had shared child sexual abuse material on the messaging app Kik.
State police searched McCaffery’s Ridge home Jan. 17, 2025, and seized several electronic devices. A forensic examination found that he had posed as a teenage boy on Snapchat between December 2024 and January 2025, using the account name c_chambers77 to contact multiple underage girls, prosecutors said.
According to the district attorney’s office, McCaffery added hundreds of random accounts to contact girls, sent images of his exposed genitals and requested nude images from them. Investigators also found that he had attempted to view and purchase child sexual abuse images and videos and had shared at least one such video with another Kik user.
State police arrested McCaffery May 12, 2025.
McCaffery has also been convicted of similar crimes in New Jersey, according to the district attorney’s office, which did not provide details of that case.
He is represented by attorney Elena Fast.
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