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Press Release

Cortland County Woman Pleads Guilty to Sexually Exploiting a Child

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

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Brittany Berry, age 25, of Cortland, New York, pled guilty today to one count of conspiracy to sexually exploit a child and five counts of sexual exploitation of a child, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of her guilty plea, Berry admitted that she conspired with Lawrence Berry (whose charges are still pending) to sexually exploit a 3-year-old minor child in August and September of 2018 and that she engaged in sexual exploitation of that child on five different occasions.  Berry further admitted that she transmitted images of the sexual abuse of the child to Lawrence Berry over livestream and by sending Lawrence Berry a video and images of the abuse. 

Sentencing is scheduled for February 6, 2020 in Utica before United States District Judge David N. Hurd.  Berry faces a minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison on each of the six counts of conviction.  She also will be required to spend at least 5 years and up to a lifetime term on post-imprisonment supervised release.  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.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the City of Cortland Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian as part of Project Safe Childhood.  Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and is designed to marshal 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

Updated October 10, 2019

Topic
Project Safe Childhood