Ballston Spa Man Sentenced to 96 Months for Child Pornography Offenses

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Parker S. Sikand, age 25, of Ballston Spa, New York, was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Vadim D. Thomas, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino also ordered Sikand to serve a 15-year term of supervised release, to begin after his release from prison, and to pay restitution, in an amount to be determined by Judge D’Agostino at a later time, to a child pornography victim whose images Sikand possessed. Sikand must also register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

As part of his November 23, 2016 guilty plea, Sikand admitted that while living in Troy, New York, in September and October 2012, he distributed, received and possessed videos depicting children, some as young as 2-3 years old, engaged in sexual acts. He admitted to distributing and receiving these videos through an Internet peer-to-peer file-sharing service, and to possessing them on a laptop computer and a separate computer hard drive.

This case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.

This case is 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/.