NYC staffer who worked with abused kids quits after sexting with client’s abuse-suspected mom

A city employee who works with troubled families and kids was forced out of his job after admitting he sexted with a mother suspected of severe child abuse.

Daniel Cespedes resigned last month as a child protective specialist at the city Administration for Children’s Services, where he was tasked with investigating credible child abuse claims, according to documents obtained by The Post.

A disposition filed with the city’s Conflict of Interest Board detailed how Cespedes admitted to sexting with a client’s mother, and that he received “sexually suggestive” photos from her.

Daniel Cespedes resigned last month from the ACS after admitting he had been sexting with a mother accused of child abuse. Helayne Seidman

Cespedes was first assigned to investigate the family on May 3, 2018.

On Nov. 28, 2018, Cespedes contacted the child’s mother, and directed her to “communicate” with him through a private phone number.

In short order, the two “engaged in a coercive sexual text message exchange,” and the mom shared “sexually suggestive images” with him, according to the settlement dated Jan. 31.

It was unclear how city officials learned of the inappropriate relationship. chinnarach – stock.adobe.com

The city charter bars employees from using or trying to use “his or her position as a public servant to obtain any financial gain, contract, license, privilege, or other private or personal advantages, direct or indirect.”

It was unclear how city officials learned of the inappropriate relationship.

Cespedes first starting working for the ACS in 2016, and in 2019 was paid a total of $90,203, according to the most recent available data.