ALBANY—A Warren County man is one of 11 suspects arrested by federal authorities this week for online activities involving child pornography.
Bruce E. Smith, 48, of Adirondack, Town of Horicon, was charged with the receipt of child pornography and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Smith was arrested on Thursday at his home after the execution of a search warrant. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Randolph F. Treece in Albany for his initial appearance on Thursday, and was released pending trial on various conditions including home detention, electronic monitoring, and the posting of bail in the amount of $20,000.00.
If convicted, Smith faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years and a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000.00, and a lifetime term of supervised release.
Federal and state authorities executed 17 search warrants this past week resulting in the arrest of 11 individuals in the Northern District of New York.
Others arrested were:
John Derrigo, 58, of Adams Center, (Jefferson County)
William Birtwell, 37 of Cortland, (Cortland County)
Lorelei Pittsley, 33, of Cortland, (Cortland County)
Jon Velazquez, 43, of Cortland, (Cortland County)
Richard Webster, 40, of Binghamton, (Broome County)
Each were charged with the receipt and possession of child pornography. Each was arrested on Tuesday at their home after the execution of a search warrant. They appeared before U.S. Magistrate David Peebles in Syracuse for his initial appearance, and was detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for July 27.
Jeffrey Bennett, 21, of Fulton, (Oswego County) was charged with the distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography. He was arrested at his home Tuesday after the execution of a search warrant.
He appeared before U.S. Magistrate David Peebles in Syracuse for his initial appearance, and was detained pending trial.
Shawn Butcher, 35, of Wynantskill, (Rensselaer County) was charged with the distribution and receipt of child pornography. Butcher was arrested Tuesday and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Randolph F. Treece in Albany for his initial appearance, and was released pending trial on various conditions including home detention.
Scott Purcell, 21, of Johnstown, (Fulton County), was charged with the receipt and possession of child pornography. Purcell appeared before U.S. Magistrate Randolph F. Treece in Albany for his initial appearance.
Joshua Stanfill, 23, of Schenectady, (Schenectady County) was charged with the distribution and receipt of child pornography. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Randolph F. Treece in Albany for his initial appearance on Thursday, and was released pending trial on various conditions including home detention and electronic monitoring.
Kevin Preston, 18, of Rensselaer, (Rensselaer County), was charged with the possession of material depicting the sexual performance of a child. A search warrant was executed at PRESTON’s residence on Thursday. He was given an appearance ticket to appear in East Greenbush Town Court on July 30. If convicted, Preston faces a maximum penalty of 1 1/3 to 3 years.
Investigations concerning the execution of the remaining six search warrants are continuing.
These investigations were initiated by NYS’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The ICAC program is a federally funded nationwide network of law enforcement agencies designed to combat the threat of child exploitation on the Internet. The NYS ICAC is a regional law enforcement task force with members from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Individuals with information pertaining to any criminal activities involving these individuals should contact New York State Police Senior Investigator William Gray at (518) 457-8812, or Project Safe Childhood Coordinator Thomas Spina Jr. at (518)431-0247. 7-24-09
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