Schenectady Man Sentenced to 87 Months For Child Pornography Offenses

ALBANY, NEW YORK - Jeffrey Butler, age 33, of Schenectady, New York, was sentenced today to serve 87 months in prison for receiving and possessing child pornography.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and James C. Spero, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino also sentenced Butler to 15 years of supervised release, to begin following his release from prison.

As part of his February 6, 2017 guilty plea, Butler admitted that he used the Internet and a peer-to-peer file sharing program to download child pornography. In his home, Butler possessed electronic devices that contained videos and still images depicting the sexual exploitation of children.

At sentencing today, Judge D’Agostino told Butler: “Many, many people continue to believe that viewing child pornography is a victimless crime. But it is important, I think, for the record to establish that what you were viewing, Mr. Butler, was horrendous crimes being committed against children who are real children. They're not fake, they're not three-dimensional caricatures, and it's not victimless. Because every time you view child pornography, you are prolonging and perpetuating the agony that these real children sustained when they were being tortured and raped as depicted in many of the images and films that you viewed.”

This case was investigated by HSI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet O’Hanlon.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.