Schenectady County Man Sentenced to 40 Years for Sexually Exploiting a Child

 ALBANY, NEW YORK – Robert Kirk, age 37, of Schenectady, New York, was sentenced today to 40 years in prison for sexually exploiting a child, and distributing and possessing child pornography.

The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon and Kevin Kelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). 

Kirk previously admitted that on two occasions in July 2018, he used a sleeping child to create sexually explicit images and videos on his phone, including videos and images of himself touching the vagina of the minor over clothing and of the minor’s unclothed vaginal area. Kirk also admitted to distributing child pornography, including an image of the minor, as well as images depicting other children, over a group messaging application, and to possessing hundreds of images of child pornography.

Senior United States District Judge Norman A. Mordue also sentenced Kirk to a 25-year term of supervised released, to begin following his term of imprisonment.

This case was investigated by HSI, with assistance from the New York State Police, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alicia Giglio Suarez.

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 Attorney’s 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.