Oswego County Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Marcus Lombardo, age 38, of Hannibal, NY, pled guilty today to possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of his guilty plea, Lombardo admitted that on February 18, 2021, during a visit at his home from his United States Probation Officer, Lombardo possessed at least 180 image and video files of child pornography on an SD card found inside a cell phone that he was prohibited from possessing under the conditions of his supervised release. 

Lombardo was on federal supervision following a 2012 federal conviction for receipt and possession of child pornography and commission of a felony offense while on pretrial release. He was sentenced to a one-year term of imprisonment in 2019 for violating the conditions of his release on a prior occasion and was sentenced to 16-month term in 2021 for the violation that occurred on February 18, 2021.

Sentencing is scheduled for February 9, 2023, before United States District Judge David N. Hurd.  Lombardo faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison, a maximum term of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of between 5 years and up to life.  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 United States Probation Office and the FBI Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Force, comprised of FBI Special Agents and Investigators of the New York State Police, Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Sutcliffe as a part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s 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.