Former Ogdensburg Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of a Child

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Harry McCarthy, age 57, of Ogdensburg, New York, pled guilty today to sexually exploiting a child.

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.

McCarthy admitted that in 2013 and 2014, he used a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing images of that conduct.  At the time of his crime, McCarthy was an officer at the Ogdensburg Police Department.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 18, 2018 in Syracuse before Chief United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby.  McCarthy pled guilty as part of an agreement that, if accepted by Chief Judge Suddaby, would require him to serve 15 years in prison, to be followed by a lifetime term of 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.  McCarthy would also be required to register as a sex offender. 

This case was investigated by the FBI and the New York State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Kopita and Geoffrey Brown.

This case was prosecuted 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).  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.