Albany County Man Pleads Guilty to Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Joshua White, age 46, of Albany County, pled guilty today to one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.

White admitted that he distributed sexually explicit images of a minor known to him to another person over text message, and that when he met with police in July 2023, he possessed child pornography on his cellular telephone depicting other victims that he obtained from the Internet and social media messaging applications.

At sentencing scheduled for April 11, 2024, before Senior United States District Judge Gary L. Sharpe, White faces a mandatory minimum imprisonment term of 5 years and a combined statutory maximum imprisonment term of 40 years for the distribution and possession offenses. Additionally, White will be required to serve a post-imprisonment term of supervised release of between 5 years and life, must register as a sex offender upon release, pay restitution to the victims of his offenses, and forfeit the device he used to commit them. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the statutes the defendant violated, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.

HSI and the New York State Police investigated this case, and Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Gadarian prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, 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.