ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr.
announced today that Howard Edward Brooks, 40, of Elmira, NY, who was convicted
of receipt, attempted distribution, and four counts of possession of child
pornography involving prepubescent minors, was sentenced to 84 months in prison
and 10 years of supervised release by U.S. District Court Judge David G.
Larimer. The defendant must also register as a sex offender.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig R. Gestring, who handled the
case, stated that Brooks, a former teacher at the Elmira Christian Academy, was
arrested in August of 2015 following the execution of a federal search warrant
at his Elmira residence. During that search, FBI Agents found several digital
items containing photos and videos of children as young as toddlers being
raped.
When FBI Agents arrived to execute the search warrant,
Brooks tried to flush several thumb drives down the toilet. The defendant
stated that he did so because he saw the FBI in his driveway and knew the thumb
drives contained child pornography. However, the thumb drives were recovered
from the sewer under Brooks’ residence with the assistance of the Chemung
County Department of Public Works. Those thumb drives were then forensically
analyzed and hundreds of child pornography videos were recovered from
each.
The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Task Force, under the
direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert.
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