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Press Release

Former Bronx Child Care Employee Pleads Guilty To Production Of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that JOSHUA CONDE, a former employee of a child care and after-school program in the Bronx, pled guilty to producing and causing the production of numerous pornographic images of a child victim. He pled guilty in Manhattan federal court this afternoon before U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Joshua Conde, a man who was entrusted with the care of children, engaged in the worst possible kinds of child exploitation – sexual victimization and the creation and distribution of child pornography. He has now pled guilty and admitted these terrible crimes, and will no longer be in a position to harm other children.”

According to the Complaint, the Superseding Indictment, CONDE’s plea agreement, statements made in court proceedings, and other public documents:

CONDE was initially arrested in May 2012 after a joint U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (“ICE”) Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) and New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) investigation determined that he had possessed child pornography that had been downloaded from the Internet and saved onto his computer. The investigation also determined that he had distributed child pornography over the Internet using file-sharing software. During a search of his residence conducted at the time of his arrest, a computer and several additional electronic devices containing images and videos of minor children engaging in sexually explicit conduct were seized. CONDE was charged with three counts of transporting or distributing child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography. He was released on bail over the Government’s objection.

In August 2012, the Government again sought to have CONDE detained on the basis of new information developed during the course of the investigation. Law enforcement officers recovered pornographic images of a young girl from the computer and related devices seized from CONDE at the time of his arrest that appeared to have been taken in his bedroom. Based on that newly-developed information, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Forrest ordered CONDE remanded, finding, after a review of some of the photographs in question, that the “defendant somehow managed to lure children into his bedroom” where he took the newly discovered pictures which were “without a doubt pornographic.”

CONDE was subsequently charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor for his role in using, persuading, inducing, and enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of that conduct. In addition to his role in producing these images, CONDE has since admitted, as a condition of his plea agreement with the Government, to sexually abusing the victim in question.

CONDE, 27, of Bronx, New York, pled guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a maximum term of supervised release for life, and a fine of up to $250,000. He will also be subject to a restitution order to be imposed by the Court at sentencing. CONDE is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Gardephe on August 13, 2013 at 2 p.m.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of ICE HSI and the NYPD. He added that the investigation is continuing.

This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Edward B. Diskant is in charge of the prosecution.

ICE HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at (866) 347-2423. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at (800) 843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

Conde, Joshua S1 Indictment

Updated May 15, 2015

Press Release Number: 13-157