Schenectady man sentenced to 7 years in prison for child porn – Albany Times Union

ALBANY A Schenectady man was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison Tuesday for receiving and possessing child pornography.

Jeffrey Butler, 33, was also sentenced to 15 years of post-release supervision.

While pleading guilty on Feb. 6, Butler admitted he used the Internet and a peer-to-peer file sharing program to download more than 300 child pornography files.

"Many, many people continue to believe that viewing child pornography is a victimless crime," U.S. District Judge Mae A. D'Agostino said before sentencing Butler. "But it is important, I think, for the record to establish that what you were viewing, Mr. Butler, was horrendous crimes being committed against children who are real children

"They're not fake, they're not three-dimensional caricatures, and it's not victimless," the judge said. "Every time you view child pornography, you are prolonging and perpetuating the agony that these real children sustained when they were being tortured and raped as depicted in many of the images and films that you viewed."

Investigators found videos and still images depicting the sexual exploitation of children on electronic devices inside Butler's home, according U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian of the Northern District of New York, and James C. Spero, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet O'Hanlon as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

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Schenectady man sentenced to 7 years in prison for child porn - Albany Times Union