FORMER MUSIC TEACHER PLEADS GUILTY FOR SENDING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT VIDEO AND ATTEMPTING TO MEET JUVENILE FEMALE

Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane announces that Steven C. DeMart, 36, of Amherst, pleaded guilty on Wednesday morning before Amherst Town Court Justice Ann M. Nichols to one count of Attempted Endangering the Welfare of a Child (Class “B” misdemeanor). He was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge and ordered to surrender his teaching license.

The defendant admitted to attempting to endanger the welfare of a child by knowingly acting in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental, or moral welfare of an individual he believed to be a child under 17 years of age. On Tuesday, May 28, 2024, DeMart attempted to meet with an individual he believed to be a 13-year-old child. Later that day, the defendant reported the incident to the Amherst Police Department. DeMart communicated with an adult, whom he thought was a child, on multiple occasions through social media apps and sent sexually explicit videos to the complainant.

DeMart, who was working as a music teacher for the Buffalo Public School District, was suspended from his position after the incident was reported to police.

DA Keane commends Detective John Hall of the Amherst Police Department Special Victims Unit for his work in this investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Meredith M. Mohun of the Special Victims/Domestic Violence Bureau.