Troy Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Kurtis Walter, age 26, of Troy, New York, pled guilty yesterday to distributing and receiving child pornography.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of his guilty plea, Walter admitted that, in November 2017, he used a laptop computer equipped with an Internet-based instant messaging and file-sharing application to distribute child pornography.  He also admitted to using the same laptop to search for and download child pornography, which he accessed through sites located on the Internet’s “dark web.”  Walter’s laptop and external devices contained approximately 98 video files and 2,349 image files depicting child pornography.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 26, 2020 before United States Judge Mae A. D’Agostino.

Walter faces a minimum term of imprisonment of 5 years, and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.  The Court is also required to impose a term of supervised release of between 5 years and life, and Baker will be required to register as a sex offender.  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

This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the New York State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet O’Hanlon.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and is designed to marshal federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.