Chenango County Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Matthew Bormann, age 35, of Sherburne, New York, pled guilty today to possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of his guilty plea, Bormann admitted that on March 12, 2021, during a visit at his home from his United States Probation Officer, Bormann possessed at least 3500 images and video files of child pornography on a cellular telephone he was prohibited from possessing under the conditions of his supervised release.

Bormann was on supervised after a federal conviction in 2014 for possession of child pornography for which he was sentenced on August 18, 2015, to serve 36 months’ imprisonment, and a life term of supervised release. 

In addition to his plea to possession of child pornography today, Bormann also admitted to violating the terms of supervised release previously imposed for his 2015 conviction.

Sentencing is scheduled for ­­­­­March 2, 2022 before Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy.  In addition to any punishment for violating the terms of his supervised release, Bormann faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison, a maximum term of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of between 5 years and up to life.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

This case was investigated by the United States Probation Office and the FBI Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Force, comprised of FBI Special Agents and Investigators of the New York State Police, Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).  The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Adrian S. LaRochelle as a part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.