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Lewis County Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation
of a Child Charges in Federal Court
Published: August 22, 2023
at 06:15 p.m.
By: Press Release from U.S. Attorney’s Office
Lewis County Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation
of a Child
Nathan Hotchkiss Sexually Exploited Two Children
Under the Age of Five
SYRACUSE, NEW
YORK – Nathan Hotchkiss, 35, of Lewis County New York pled guilty today to
two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. United States Attorney Carla
B. Freedman, Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge of the Homeland
Security Investigations (HSI) Buffalo, New York Field Office, and Lewis
County District Attorney Leanne K. Moser made the announcement.
As part of
Hotchkiss’s guilty plea, he admitted that, from at least October 2021
through August 2022, he sexually exploited two children under the age of
five and livestreamed or distributed depictions of the sexual abuse online
for cash. When Hotchkiss was arrested in August 2022, he also had a
collection of child pornography he had obtained on the Internet or through
social media message exchanges with others.
If the parties’
agreed-upon sentence is imposed by the Court at sentencing on January 17,
2024, Hotchkiss will receive a term of imprisonment of 30 years, a post-imprisonment
term of supervised release of life, and will be required to register as a
sex offender upon his release from prison. In addition, Hotchkiss will be
required to pay restitution to his victims and to forfeit the electronic
devices that he used to commit his offenses to the United States.
HSI investigated
the case with the assistance of the New York State Police and the Lewis
County District Attorney’s Office as part of Project Safe Childhood.
Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Gadarian
is prosecuting the case.
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 locates,
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
.
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