Dramatist Pivnik Who Bragged
Of Sharing 11 Year Old Boy Is Remanded To MCC
After Meth Test
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
September 3 – A thirty year
old man accused by the
government of distributing
pornographic images of infants
and bragging that he was
grooming an 11 year old boy
had been freed on bond to his
mother's house in Freehold,
New Jersey, as exclusively
reported by Inner City Press.
On
September 3 Bryan Pivnik's
freedom was ended by U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge P. Kevin Castel.
Pivnik arrived for a pre trial
conference, as in July, in a
blue blazer accompanied by his
mother and step father. His
lawyer Matthew Myers had filed
a motion to suppress his cell
phone with child pornography
and boasts of grooming on it.
Myers asked that the
government not respond yet to
his motion, since he has a
mitigation brief pending.
Then it
turn. Pivnik has tested
positive for meth, five days
after the last conference in
the case at which as on
September 3 Inner City Press
was the only media present.
Myers
tried to focus on the chain of
custody of Pivnik's urine,
sent to an outside lab after
the person administered the
test found that the sample was
cold, and not as expected
warm.
Judge
Castel grew frustrated at the
urine argument, and then began
to ask about the underlying
complaint, which Inner City
Press covered at the time of
presentment in the SDNY
Magistrates Court. Pivnik
bragged he was grooming the 11
year old brother of his
boyfriend James.
Myers,
perhaps sensing the danger to
his client, said that James'
mother Geraldine Chapman was
at the presentment in the Mag
Court. That was true - but as
Inner City Press remembers is,
Ms. Chapman while praising
Pivnik for his work on a
musical drama said she would
never again allow her younger
son to see him.
As Judge
Castel read from the
complaint, including
interpreting "hee hee" as a
devilish laugh, an SDNY Court
Security Officer came in, then
another. Clearly, remand was
now a possibility.
Finally
Judge Castel asked for final
arguments from Assistant US
Attorney Thomas John Wright,
who asked for remand, and
Myers, who said he had no more
to say. Then after a
silence in which Castel
flipped through papers, the
decision was reached: remand.
The two
Court Security Officers
surrounded Pivnik. As another
case, that of Craig Smith
represented by Bennett
Epstein, was called the CSOs
allowed Pivnik to hug his
mother, who was crying. He sat
in the back until two U.S.
Marshals arrived. He took off
his blazer.
The motion to
suppress, on which Pivnik's
lawyer Myers had urged delay,
now seemed more urgent. Inner
City Press will continue to
cover this case, and others in
the SDNY. Watch this site.
More on Patreon here.
Back on
July 26 Judge
Castel, while
declining to
let Pivnick
start using
the computer
again, did
grant the
request for a
jog or walk,
with mother or
step-father,
from 6:30 to 7
pm every day.
Myers
emphasized the
route is right
along the
highway.
Also continued
were Pivnick's
forays on
public
transportation
into
Manhattan, 32
Broadway and
and elsewhere.
The government
asked why
evaluation and
treatment in
New Jersey
wouldn't
suffice. But
the lower
Broadway
doctor said
any change
would be
traumatic.
Myers read out
a statement
from Pivnick,
that he has
"no ill
feelings
toward law
enforcement."
Myers had
visited the
FBI to see
some of the
discovery.
On July 13
Pivnick's
lawyer Myers
from high in
the Chrysler
Building wrote
to Judge
Castel that
Pivnick "be
able to
exercise for
30 minutes per
day by running
along the
trail within
his parents'
community
where he is
living." But
Pretrial - not
Pre-trail --
Service has
confirmed that
this community
contains many
minor
children. What
was the
purpose of the
release on
conditions?
There's also
this,
unresponded to
as of July 25:
"Pivnick has
been taking
Zyrtec-D
because of his
serious
allergic
reaction to
the cats in
his parents
home. Zyrtec-D
is an over the
counter
medication
which has been
known to cause
false
positives for
methamphetamines."
So get ready
for Pivnick to
come up
positive,
then.
Back on
June 5 in the SDNY
Magistrates Court
with Inner
City Press the
only media
present,
Pivnick was
led out of the
cell block to
to the office
on the side of
the
Magistrates
Court.
Pivnick on
June 5 emerged
with a piece
of paper, and
a smile. The
docket,
however, showed
nothing.
See also Patreon and June 25 Patreon.
On May 30
Bryan Pivnick
was brought in
foot shackles
before SDNY Magistrate
Judge James L.
Cott after 6
pm. Assistant
US Attorney
Thomas Wright,
who later
confirmed the
spelling of Pivnick's
name to Inner
City Press,
argued for detention.
He
described
Telegram
messages on February
10, 2019 in which
Pivnick said
he was "getting
close to the
11 y/o bro"
of his
boyfriend. The
same 11
year old was
found in
Pivnick's
apartment when
he was
arrested.
Now on May 31,
with requests
to various
authorities unanswered,
there is this
from the now
public
complaint: Bryan
Pivnick is also
known as
"magnapraeda." FBI Agent
Matthew
Deragon swore,
before Judge
Cott agreed to
free Pivnick,
that he had
found on
Pivnick's cell
phone images
of penetrated
infants in
diapers, also
a male child
one to
three years
old.
The full
quote alluded
to on May
30: "I'm
trying to get
close to a
buddy's 11yo
bro [devil
emoji]." He then
told another
now
incarcerated
"User-2" that
"I'd love to
share." They confirm Pivnick
lived in Manhattan
- see Patreon.
Pivnick's
Federal
Defenders lawyer
Philip
Weinstein
protested that
the 11
year old is
the son of
Pivnick's
boyfriend and
that the
photos were
not naked -
they were at a
museum. "The SPY
museum,"
Pivnick audibly
said.
Pivnick's
mother
and
step-father
were in the
gallery. When
Pivnick was
brought in his
mother cried
and left
courtroom.
Later she
spoke up to
tell Judge
Cott that her
home in
New Jersey has
"Raid
security"
which can film
whomever
approaches it.
Judge Cott said he
would take a
recess
to decide. But
before that
happened, none
other
than the mother of
the 11 year
told, a Ms. Chapman,
spoke up from
the gallery.
She said that
while she
will never
again allow
her son to see
Pivnick, they
had shared a
dog together,
that she had
paid for.
She objected
to AUSA Wright
saying Pivnick
doesn't have
steady work,
noting that he
works 11 hours
a day on a
musical, albeit
not for money.
While Cott and
his Deputy Mr.
Tan never read
out the index
number
of the case,
online
research by
Inner City Press found
a Bryan
Pivnick who is
described
in Marymount
Manhattan
Magazine in
2010-11: "Early
this spring
semester,
Bryan Pivnick
’11 brought
the beginnings
of a song to
class. He
wasn’t sure
where he was
going with it,
but wanted to
get some
feedback to
help guide
him. Students
reacted with
confusion to
his phrasing
and were
unsatisfied
with his rhyme
schemes. In a
previous
class,
Pivnick, a
theatre arts
major, had
received
favorable
responses from
the class when
he shared a
song from a
separate
project, a
developing
musical in
which he had
provided the
class with
clear
characters and
context for
the direction
those songs
were taking."
Bryan
Pivnick also registered
with GoDaddy a
website named
TheDramatistsLab.org.
It is not
live. An
address on the
Upper
West Side is
also listed
but no longer
seems
relevant for
this format. (But
see Patreon,
here.)
Cott emerged
and said that,
unlike a
homeless man
less than an
hour later
whom he
remanded to
the MCC for
online threats
to DC Mayor
Muriel Bowser, of
whom Pre Trial
Services noted
"ties to
Nigeria," Pivnick
could be
freed. His
mother will
put up her home
and agree to
have her
computer and
other
electronics
password
protected.
Pivnick is not
to see the
boyfriend,
who is now a witness.
In the back of
the Mag
Court, Ms.
Chapman was discussing
what was on
Pivnick's
phone. Then the
homeless man
was remanded,
his bond
application
denied.
The
next hearing
for Pivnick is
in
September.
Inner City
Press and @SDNYLIVE were and will be
there.
***
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