Former Bucks Co. Sheriff's Deputy Secretly Photographed Naked Prisoners: DA

DOYLESTOWN, PA — A former Bucks County Deputy Sheriff is facing charges for secretly photographing naked prisoners while in custody, disseminating images to co-workers and personal contacts, and then lying to investigators in an attempt to cover up his actions.

During a press conference on Monday, Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan said Ryan Gaffney, who was terminated from his job in March, will be charged via summons with official oppression, unsworn falsification to authorities, possessing an instrument of crime, and obstructing the administration of law or other government function.

The criminal charges stem from an investigation launched by detectives on March 31 after receiving a referral from the Sheriff’s Office, which began an internal affairs investigation following a complaint regarding Gaffney’s on-duty conduct.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, on January 30 Gaffney and four other uniformed deputies executed an arrest warrant for a man at his home in Middletown Township. The man was suffering from a mental health crisis and was found in an upstairs bedroom, naked from the waist down, court records said.

While the man sat on a bench at the end of his bed attempting to put on pants, detectives say Gaffney covered his own body-worn camera with his hand to obstruct the recording. However, the body camera of another deputy in the room captured footage of Gaffney removing his right glove, pulling out his personal cellphone, opening the camera application, and pointing the camera directly at the man.

Later that day at the Bucks County Criminal Justice Center, Gaffney showed the photograph of the man’s privates to female civilian employees “in jest,” according to the criminal complaint. Forensic analysis later revealed he also texted the image to two personal contacts.

Detectives said digital forensic examination uncovered a second image on Gaffney's phone from Dec. 26, 2024. The photograph depicted a separate handcuffed, naked male prisoner lying across a bed. Gaffney disseminated the image to 12 different personal contacts over four separate dates.

During a voluntary administrative interview on April 6 with Sheriff Daniel Ceisler and investigators, detectives said Gaffney made false and misleading statements before signing a written statement, falsely denying that he used his personal cell phone to create and distribute the Jan. 30 image, the criminal complaint says.

Gaffney also provided, through his legal counsel, selective screenshots of his active and recently deleted photo libraries in an attempt to mislead investigators into believing that the January image was not stored on his phone, detectives said.

However, a court-authorized forensic search of Gaffney’s iPhone on April 23 recovered both the image of the January victim and the image of the Dec. 2024 victim.

Additionally, the digital metadata on the recovered file directly matched the timestamp and physical positioning captured on the other deputies' body-worn cameras.

During the press conference on Monday, District Attorney Khan said Gaffney had betrayed the trust placed in him by Bucks County taxpayers.

“The people of Bucks County must be able to trust that those sworn to protect them will respect their basic rights and dignity at all times, especially when they are at their most vulnerable,” said Khan. “When a deputy sheriff breaks the law and then attempts to cover it up by lying about it, it erodes the public trust that thousands of honest public servants work daily to preserve. This office will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute official misconduct at all levels of government to ensure that no one is above the law, especially not those who are sworn to enforce it.”