Martville, New York Man Sentenced For Child Pornography Charges

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Kenneth Burghardt, 44, of Martville, New York was sentenced today to serve 262 months in prison and a lifetime term of supervised release in connection with his previous guilty pleas to all ten counts of an indictment charging him with receipt and distribution of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian. The defendant was serving a federal supervised release term from a 2008 federal court child exploitation offense at the time he committed the crimes for which he was sentenced today¹. For violating the conditions of his 2008 term of supervised term, Burghardt was sentenced to an additional 60 months in prison to be served consecutively to the 262 month sentence. He will also be required to register as a sex offender in connection with these convictions.

The evidence in the case showed that Kenneth Burghardt possessed a mobile telephone at his home on February 24, 2015 when he was visited by U.S. Probation officers who heard its ringtone. The Probation officers located and seized the mobile telephone, which was found to contain 1,437 images and 28 video files containing child pornography. Additional images of child pornography were also located on a computer used by the defendant. The conditions of supervised release imposed as part of Burghardt’s 2008 conviction prohibited from him possessing a mobile phone or computer without the permission of the Court and permitted Probation Officers to search such devices.

This case was investigated by United States Probation Department, Northern District of New York, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") Albany Division, Syracuse Resident Agency and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Fletcher.

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 www.justice.gov/psc.

¹ Kenneth Burghardt pled guilty in 2008 and was sentenced in 2009 to serve 87 months imprisonment, a lifetime term of supervised release, and required him to register as a sex offender.