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Press Release

Albany Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography

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

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Brennan McNeil, age 26, of Albany, New York, pled guilty yesterday to sexually exploiting a child for the purpose of producing child pornography.

The announcement was made by 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.

As part of his guilty plea, McNeil admitted that, in early 2017, he produced a video of a 10-year-old child being subjected to sexually explicit conduct.  McNeil produced the video in North Carolina, where he lived at the time, and saved it on a thumb drive that he brought with him when he moved, in May 2017, from North Carolina to New York

McNeil, who has been in custody since his arrest on June 21, 2017, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 5, 2018, by Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy.  He faces at least 15 years and up to 30 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.  McNeil will also have to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison. 

This case was investigated by the FBI, the Colonie Police Department, and the New York State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph A. Giovannetti and Katherine Kopita. 

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/.

Updated March 7, 2018

Topic
Project Safe Childhood