Albany Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Michael Gullinese, age 47, of Albany, New York, pled guilty yesterday to distributing, receiving, and possessing child pornography.

The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Vadim D.  Thomas, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 

As part of his guilty plea, Gullinese admitted that between January 23, 2017 and his arrest on March 14, 2017, he used his cell phone to send and receive images of child pornography over the Kik instant-messaging application.  Gullinese saved to his phone approximately 600 image files and 150 video files of child pornography, some depicting children as young as infants. 

Gullinese has a 2010 federal child pornography conviction.  He was serving a life term of supervised release at the time of his arrest, having been released from prison in August 2014. 

Gullinese is scheduled to be sentenced on January 25, 2018 by Senior United States District Judge Norman A. Mordue.  He faces at least 15 years and up to 40 years in prison, at least 5 years and up to lifetime post-imprisonment supervised release, and a maximum $250,000 fine.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors. 

The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph A. Giovannetti. 

This case is prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/