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Lewis County Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for
Sexual Exploitation of Children
Published: May 29, 2024 at
12:55 p.m.
By: Press Release from U.S. Attorney’s Office
Lewis County Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for
Sexual Exploitation of Children
Nathan Hotchkiss Sexually Exploited Two Children
Under the Age of Five
SYRACUSE, NEW
YORK – Nathan Hotchkiss, 36, of Lewis County, New York was sentenced today
to serve 30 years imprisonment and lifetime post-release supervision for
two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. United States Attorney Carla
B. Freedman and Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge of United States
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Buffalo, New York Field Office made
the announcement.
As part of
Hotchkiss’s previously entered 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.
In addition to
the imprisonment and supervised release terms, Hotchkiss was ordered to pay
a total of $18,000 in restitution to his victims and to forfeit the
electronic devices he used to commit the offenses. Hotchkiss also will be
required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
Homeland Security
Investigations (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 prosecuted 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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