[Connecticut Law Tribune] A New Haven solo attorney of 21 years pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court in Hartford to receipt of child pornography.
Eric R. Gaynor, a 46-year-old Orange resident, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. The maximum prison term he could get at his April 15 sentencing is 20 years and a $250,000 fine.
“This case once again shows that with mandatory minimum sentences how one stupid mistake can mess up an otherwise exemplary life,” said attorney Hugh Keefe, of New Haven’s Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante, who is representing Gaynor. “Mr. Gaynor was and is a highly reputed lawyer in the area and had a successful practice.”
In that practice, Gaynor focused on landlord-tenant law, commercial and residential leases, real estate closings and vehicle accident injuries. He was also an active member of the Connecticut Bar Association, serving on the Membership Services Committee from 1993 to 2006, and for a time was the panel’s chairman. Gaynor has also taught continuing legal education seminars for the CBA on landlord-tenant law.
Online, he went by the alias “Rick Coyo” and, according to authorities, owned and controlled the web site “coyoteee.com.” According to his indictment, Gaynor displayed images and offered to sell or rent videos of young nude males, some of which were engaged in sexual activity.
Included on the web site, according to the indictment, was a link to a poll on whether Gaynor should offer premium content on the site of “hot, hot bois, teens to twinks” for a monthly membership instead of sending videos by mail. The site also contained a link to “Coyoteee’s Video e-Store.”
In April 2003, Gaynor allegedly sent three videos available for sale from his web site to New Jersey for $188.96. The indictment further alleges that Gaynor sold a 47-minute video entitled “Sexyboys” to a buyer in Malaysia. Authorities say that the video showed two males under 18 engaged in anal and oral sex. Gaynor was indicted in 2006 on charges of transporting, distributing, promoting and receiving child pornography.
Gaynor, though, had made various challenges to the charges before last week’s guilty plea. Among them, Gaynor moved to suppress statements he made to FBI investigators who searched his home in June 2003.
According to court documents, approximately 12 officers and agents, some wearing raid jackets, entered his home with a warrant at 8 a.m. on June 24, 2003. A neighbor quickly arrived to take Gaynor’s two young daughters from the home.
Gaynor, apparently thinking his cooperation might soften any future punishment, provided investigators with passwords to his web site so they could assume his online identity. He also allegedly admitted to ownership of the web site and to the types of photos and videos available there. He maintained that he did not believe they constituted child pornography.
U.S. District Court Judge Christopher F. Droney denied the motion to suppress statements to FBI agents, ruling that Gaynor was not in custody, could have left the home and did not have to talk to officers.
Gaynor, a Philadelphia native, practiced law from his Chapel Street office in New Haven. He joined the Connecticut bar in 1987 after getting his law degree from the University of Connecticut.
Keefe said Gaynor still has his license to practice law, but his future in the profession will be discussed after his sentencing in April. Gaynor’s web site for his law practice was recently taken down.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Chang. Chang declined comment. This case was investigated by the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force, specifically the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.•