Schenectady Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Exploiting a Child

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Robert Kirk, age 36, of Schenectady, New York, pled guilty yesterday to sexually exploiting a child, and to distributing and possessing child pornography.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Kevin Kelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). 

Kirk admitted that on two occasions in July 2018, he used a sleeping, minor child to create sexually explicit images and videos on his cellular telephone.  Kirk also admitted to distributing child pornography over a group messaging application and possessing hundreds of images of child pornography.

Kirk is scheduled to be sentenced on April 10, 2020 by Senior United States District Judge Norman A. Mordue.  Kirk faces at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison on the sexual exploitation counts, at least 5 and up to 20 years in prison on the distribution count, and up to 20 years in prison on each of the child pornography counts.  Sentences of imprisonment may be concurrent or consecutive at the discretion of the Court.  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.  The Court also will impose a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of between 5 years and life.

This case was investigated by HSI, with assistance from the New York State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alicia Giglio Suarez.

This case is being 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), 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.