Daniel Scharmer, photographed in 2019. Contributed photo.
Seven years ago, Daniel Scharmer stood before a Trumbull County judge. He had pleaded guilty to 17 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and three counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance. The judge, Andrew Logan, could have sentenced Scharmer to 20 years in prison on each count.
Instead, Logan sentenced Scharmer, now 50, of Brookfield, to 180 days in the county jail and 5 years of probation. Why did Logan issue such a seemingly lenient sentence? Because Scharmer was “doing the right thing,” meaning he had sought crisis care and recovery services and was seeking treatment for a traumatic brain injury he had suffered in 2007, when he fell and hit his head on ice while refereeing a hockey game, Logan said.
Today (July 21), Scharmer again stood before a judge – this time in federal court – with no hope of escaping prison. He had pleaded guilty to receipt and possession of child pornography, and was subject to a 5-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.
Scharmer asked for leniency – that he be sentenced to the 5 years – but U.S. District Court Judge Benita Pearson, Youngstown, was not that generous, sentencing him to 14 years in prison, the lower end of recommended federal sentencing guidelines.
Pearson said that Scharmer is a recidivist, meaning that he has been convicted of a crime before. Although Scharmer seems to blame his addiction on the head injury – he had told Logan that the injury led to “uncharacteristic behaviors” – Pearson said that a psychologist hired by the defense determined that the injury had not been serious enough for its effects to last.
“You need to get over believing” that the injury contributed to the addiction, Pearson said, telling Scharmer that he “chose to enjoy (viewing) the rape and sexual abuse of minors.”
“It’s unacceptable, and it has to be accepted that it’s unacceptable by you,” Pearson said.
Scharmer was indicted in April 2025 and entered his guilty pleas a year later. Investigators believe that Scharmer was accessing child pornography in June 2024 through a peer-to-peer file-sharing program, but were unable to substantiate their suspicions until the following October, when they could open some of the files. Scharmer’s home was raided in January 2025, when his computer equipment and phones were seized.
“Daniel Scharmer is a religious man who acknowledges the harms of his offense conduct and has reflected on it at length so that he can understand it and overcome it,” according to the sentence memorandum filed by the Federal Public Defenders Office, which represents him. “He has sought help through the church, through therapy and through forming and attending support groups.”
Scharmer meets regularly with his pastor, openly discussing his “offense conduct,” the memo said. He also has become “something of a pastor” in the jail where has been detained, “by leading in bible study, prayer and generally providing spiritual encouragement.”
Scharmer’s court attorney, Darin Thompson, said Scharmer has shown “a degree of remorse that I believe is unusual.”
Scharmer has “focused inward” on why he lapsed back into viewing child pornography and has developed a plan “to be successful when he’s out” of prison,” Thompson said.
Scharmer told Pearson that he’s “truly, honestly sorry for my action.”
“My actions are not reflective of who I am,” he said.
He apologized to the victims, those young people who were photographed or filmed involved in sexual activity with themselves, other minors or adults.
“I have struggled for many years with my addiction to child pornography,” he said.
Scharmer answered a question that he had asked himself and many others probably also have asked: How did he get caught again?
“I let my guard down,” Scharmer said. He said he stopped going to addiction-oriented meetings and counseling sessions and attending church.
“I became prideful and thought I could do it on my own,” Scharmer said, adding that he had been “a good man, most of my life.”
The prosecution saw things differently.
“The defendant has been through this before,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Cain. His prior conviction was for “the exact same conduct,” she said.
The government and Pearson noted that federal investigators recovered 920 child pornographic photographs and videos on Scharmer’s computer-related devices. One video showed a 5-year-old girl being sexually abused by her father. One victim endured abuse for seven years, starting at the age of 5. Another victim was 3 when the abuse started, and another was depicted having sexual relations with a cat.
Following his release from prison, Scharmer will serve 10 years of probation. He also must pay a total of $71,500 to 10 identified victims.
