Fort Edward Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of a Child

Posed as a Teenage Girl and Coerced Victim to Take Naked Pictures

ALBANY, NEW YORK – James Mattison, age 46, of Fort Edward, New York, pled guilty yesterday to sexual exploitation of a child.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Janelle M. Miller, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

As part of his guilty plea, Mattison admitted that in October 2016, he exchanged more than 7,100 text messages with a 13-year-old boy whom he had met online using the Live.me phone application.  Mattison claimed to be a teenage girl named Megan Mattison, and coerced the victim into taking and sending sexually explicit photographs of himself by threatening to commit suicide if the victim refused.

Mattison, who has been in custody since his arrest on September 8, 2017, is scheduled to be sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Gary L. Sharpe on September 10, 2018.  He faces at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison, at least 5 years and up to lifetime post-imprisonment supervised release, and a maximum $250,000 fine.  He will also have to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.  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.

The case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the New York State Police and Washington County Probation Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph A. Giovannetti.