SEPTA cop watched and shared child pornography for years, sometimes while on the job, feds say
Brian Zenszer, 43, used the messaging app Kik to request and view dozens of child pornography files, federal prosecutors said.
A SEPTA transit police officer who prosecutors say watched and shared child pornography for years — sometimes while on the job — has been charged with child sexual exploitation.
Brian Zenszer, 43, of Warminster, was arrested earlier this month after federal investigators learned he used the messaging app Kik to request and view dozens of files with child pornography, including images of prepubescent children being sexually abused, according to the criminal complaint.
A federal judge ordered Zenszer to remain in custody until trial, court records show.
Zenszer’s attorney, Maranna Meehan, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Zenszer, who was fired after the criminal charges were lodged, was a SEPTA police officer for 17 years, assigned to foot patrols throughout the transit system, primarily along the Broad Street and Market-Frankford Lines, said Andrew Busch, SEPTA spokesperson.
“The allegations are disturbing, and we are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness and urgency,” SEPTA said in a statement. “The individual was immediately placed on leave when the SEPTA Transit Police Department received notification from the FBI, and his employment has been terminated.”
Omari Bervine, president of Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109, the union that represents about 200 patrol officers, said the union was not representing Zenszer and declined to comment further.
The investigation was sparked by tips submitted to Kik that two accounts associated with Zenszer had been sharing child pornography, the complaint said.
After executing a search warrant for the accounts, federal investigators found 24 files containing child pornography on an account that Zenszer used to view and share images and to communicate with others online, sometimes requesting videos of minors being sexually abused, the complaint said.
When that account was shut down by Kik, Zenszer opened another one, and investigators found 16 additional pornographic images featuring children, according to the complaint.
Using the app, authorities said, Zenszer spoke to others about videos of child sexual abuse. He also said he had stolen the underwear of his girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter and masturbated in the child’s bedroom, according to the complaint.