Syracuse Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Thomas Sczerbaniewicz, age 52, of Syracuse, pled guilty yesterday to one count of possessing and accessing with intent to view child pornography, announced Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon and Thomas F. Relford, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of his plea agreement and during the plea hearing before United States District Judge David N. Hurd in Utica, Sczerbaniewicz admitted that, in January 2021 while at his sex offender counseling service, he went into the bathroom and used a mobile phone to access the internet and view child exploitation images.

Sczerbaniewicz, who was convicted of possessing child pornography in 2009 and was on supervised release at the time he committed the current offense, faces at least 10 years and up to 20 years in prison on the new conviction. The Court also will impose a term of supervised release of between 5 years and life. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the statute the defendant violated, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.

Sczerbaniewicz’s case was investigated by the FBI Syracuse Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Force, comprised of FBI Special Agents and Investigators of the New York State Police, Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), after a referral from the United States Probation Office.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian 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.