A Bucks County Deputy Sheriff was formally charged on Monday with secretly photographing naked prisoners while in custody, disseminating those images to co-workers and personal contacts, and then lying to investigators in an attempt to cover up his actions, Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan announced on Monday. 

Ryan Gaffney, who was terminated from the Sheriff’s Office last month, was charged Monday morning with official oppression, unsworn falsification to authorities, possessing an instrument of crime, and obstructing the administration of law or other government function. The charges were filed via summons, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Aug. 10.

The criminal charges stem from an investigation launched by the Bucks County Detectives on March 31, 2026, after receiving a referral from the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office, which commenced a concurrent internal affairs investigation following a complaint regarding Deputy Gaffney’s on-duty conduct. 

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on January 30, 2026, Gaffney and four other uniformed deputies executed an arrest warrant for an adult male at his residence in Middletown Township. The male was suffering from a mental health crisis and was located upstairs in a bedroom, naked from the waist down.  

While the male sat on a bench at the end of his bed attempting to put on pants, 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 lens directly at the male.  

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

Bucks County Detectives discovered that this was not an isolated incident. Digital forensic examination uncovered a second image on Gaffney's phone from December 26, 2024. The photograph depicted a separate handcuffed, naked male prisoner lying across a bed. Gaffney disseminated this image to 12 different personal contacts over four separate dates.  

During a voluntary administrative interview on April 6, 2026 with Sheriff Daniel Ceisler and investigators, Gaffney made false and misleading statements verbally before signing a written statement, all falsely denying that he used his personal cell phone to create and distribute the January 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 2026 image was not stored on his phone. However, a court-authorized forensic search of Gaffney’s iPhone on April 23, 2026 successfully recovered both the image of the January 2026 victim and the image of the December 2024 victim.  

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

During today's press conference, District Attorney Khan emphasized that Gaffney betrayed the trust placed in him by the taxpayers of Bucks County. 

 “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 DA Joe 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.” 

 “We appreciate Sheriff Ceisler’s swift action to refer this matter to our Office and the ongoing cooperation of the Sheriff’s Office with our investigation,” added Khan. 

The case was brought by the District Attorney’s recently expanded Special Investigations Unit, which is charged with protecting the public through the investigation and prosecution of corruption, official oppression, and other criminal misconduct by public officials. 

This case has been investigated by Bucks County Detectives Jeffrey Jumper and William Mooney and is assigned for prosecution to Deputy District Attorney Andrew Bukowski.  

Media Contact: Manuel Gamiz Jr., 215.348.6298, mgamiz@buckscounty.org    

Criminal charges are allegations subject to proof in court. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.