Troy Man Sentenced to 78 Months for Distributing and Receiving Child Pornography

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Kurtis Walter, age 27, of Troy, New York, was sentenced today to serve 78 months in prison for distribution and receipt of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, and Thomas F. Relford, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albany Field Office.

United States District Court Judge Mae A. D’Agostino also sentenced Walter to 15 years of supervised release, to begin following his term of imprisonment. Walter will also be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

Walter pled guilty on January 23, 2020.  At that time, he 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 so-called dark web.  Walter’s laptop and external devices contained approximately 98 video files and 2,349 image files depicting child pornography.

This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the New York State Police, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet O’Hanlon. This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood.  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). 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.