A Pennsylvania man, who once coached youth basketball, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and is ordered to pay $75,000 in fines after being convicted on multiple child exploitation offenses.
United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced that James Hardcastle, 42, of Bensalem, PA, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, 20 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $75,000 in fines by United States District Judge Gerald J. Pappert on the charges stemming from conduct at his own home and while on an overnight basketball tournament trip in Wildwood, New Jersey, with a group of boys, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania press release.
In June 2016, Hardcastle transported three boys, ages 15, 16 and 16, as their coach to New Jersey to participate in a basketball tournament. They all shared a motel room, and, while the boys showered without a curtain to block their nudity, the defendant installed a USB drive containing a hidden camera in a power outlet in the bathroom and secretly filmed each of the minors taking showers. Previously, in June and July 2015, the defendant also attempted to videotape two minors in a bathroom using a hidden camera while the minors were visiting his home in Bensalem.
Hardcastle pleaded guilty in December 2019 to three counts of transporting minors with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of attempted production of child pornography.
“This defendant took advantage of his position of trust as a youth basketball coach to exploit children for his own satisfaction,” U.S. Attorney McSwain said. “This is heinous and reprehensible behavior that deserves the serious punishment that was meted out today. My Office will continue to prioritize the protection of children from such predation.”
“The boys James Hardcastle victimized will never forget their trusted coach’s betrayal,” said Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “He used his relationship with them for his own gratification, setting them up for his illicit secret recordings. The FBI will never stand by when we learn of the sexual exploitation of children. Such predators need to be taken off the street so they can’t harm anyone else.”
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Philadelphia Police Department Special Victims Unit and the Bensalem Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle L. Morgan.
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