Derry Man Sentenced To Ten Years For Child Pornography Distribution

          CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE - Stephen Cote, 51, of Derry, New Hampshire, was sentenced in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire on one count of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography, announced Acting United States Attorney Donald Feith.  The Court imposed a term of 10 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by an 8 year term of supervised release.

          Cote’s sentencing capped an extensive multi-agency investigation, which began in 2013 when Cote sent an e-mail containing child pornography to an undercover federal agent.  Search warrants were subsequently executed on Cote’s e-mail account and residence, leading to the discovery of hundreds of images and videos of child pornography.  Cote used his e-mail account to store those images and distribute them to dozens of other individuals by e-mail over the course of several months.

          The case was investigated by Manchester, New Hampshire Homeland Security Investigations and the Portsmouth and Washington D.C. offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in conjunction with the New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Task Force (NH ICAC) and the Derry and Manchester, New Hampshire Police Departments.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nick Abramson and Seth Aframe.

           In February 2006, the Department of Justice introduced 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.