New Jersey Man Guilty Of Production Of Child Pornography In “Sextortion” Case

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Hubert Young, age 46, of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, pleaded guilty today before Senior U.S. District Court Judge James M. Munley, to producing and attempting to produce child pornography.

According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, Young admitted to creating two Facebook accounts with fictitious names, and using a cell phone and computer to persuade minors to take pornographic images of themselves and send them to him.

As part of this “sextortion” scheme, Young posed as two teenagers, communicated with victims in chat groups, and when the minors sent the pornographic images to Young, he threatened to put the images on the internet unless the victims sent him additional images. A total of 13 minor victims from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana fell prey to Young’s criminal activities between January 2015 and June 2016.

Judge Munley ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be completed, and scheduled sentencing for May 9, 2017.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office, and Pittston Police. Assistant United States Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 30 years’ imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. There is also a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

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