Lewis County Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of a Child

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Nathan Hotchkiss, age 35, of Lewis County, New York, pled guilty today to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman, Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Buffalo, New York Field Office, and Lewis County District Attorney Leanne K. Moser made the announcement. 

As part of Hotchkiss’s guilty plea, he admitted that, from at least October 2021 through August 2022, he sexually exploited two children under the age of five and livestreamed or distributed depictions of the sexual abuse online for cash. When Hotchkiss was arrested in August 2022, he also had a collection of child pornography he had obtained on the Internet or through social media message exchanges with others.

If the parties’ agreed-upon sentence is imposed by the Court at sentencing on January 17, 2024, Hotchkiss will receive a term of imprisonment of 30 years, a post-imprisonment term of supervised release of life, and will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison. In addition, Hotchkiss will be required to pay restitution to his victims and to forfeit the electronic devices that he used to commit his offenses to the United States.

HSI investigated the case with the assistance of the New York State Police and the Lewis County District Attorney’s Office as part of Project Safe Childhood. Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Gadarian is prosecuting the case.

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 locates, 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.