Exeter Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials

CONCORD – A Exeter man pleaded guilty today in federal court to possession of child sexual abuse materials, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young announces.

Nathan Kohler, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of Possession of Child Pornography.  U.S. District Court Judge Joseph N. Laplante scheduled sentencing for October 17, 2024.

On January 2, 2023, and again on February 14, 2023, the NH Internet Crimes Against Children (“ICAC”) Task Force’s BitTorrent software identified a target IP address making child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”) available for download through the Peer-to-Peer (“P2P”) network BitTorrent.  Further investigation identified the defendant’s residence in Exeter, New Hampshire as the subscriber of the target IP address. 

On April 5, 2023, law enforcement executed a federal search warrant at the defendant’s residence.  During that search, law enforcement seized a Dell laptop computer from the defendant’s bedroom, containing approximately 2,000 images of CSAM and two video files.  Numerous images depicted prepubescent minors, or minors who had not attained 12 years of age. 

During an interview with law enforcement, the defendant admitted that he was the individual who has been using the internet in the residence to download CSAM and has been engaged in such activity for a number of years. The defendant stated that he used his laptop computer which was located in his bedroom to access CSAM.

The charge of Possession of Child Pornography provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a minimum of 5 years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

Homeland Security Investigations led the investigation. Valuable assistance was provided by the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Exeter Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Ward is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc. 

###