Albany Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

ALBANY, NY—United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Clifford C. Holly, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany Division, announced that KANE KEENAN, age 41, of Albany, New York, pled guilty on March 4, 2011 in United States District Court in Albany before District Judge David N. Hurd to count one of an indictment charging him with the possession of child pornography.

In connection with his plea, KEENAN admitted the following during his plea proceedings:

Between about June 2009 and April 2 2010, KEENAN, while in his residence, used a Dell computer to access the Internet and to download file-sharing software. While accessing the Internet during the pertinent time period alleged in the indictment, KEENAN sought to obtain child pornography by using search terms that were likely to yield images of child pornography. KEENAN obtained child pornography from other individuals with file sharing programs or by visiting various child pornography websites. When thumbnail images or files with file names indicative of child pornography were encountered by KEENAN, he would point and click his computer mouse on the thumbnail image or on the file name in order to enlarge and view the child pornography image on his computer. While clicking on the thumbnail images or file names that were suggestive of child pornography, and while viewing the images of child pornography, KEENAN knowingly possessed said images.

On or about April 2, 2010, investigators executed a search warrant at KEENAN's residence in East Greenbush, New York. The aforementioned Dell computer was seized and searched. Forensic examination of the computer was subsequently conducted. At least 10 still images, all of which depict minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, as those terms and phrases are defined in Title 18, United States Code, Section 2256(2), were recovered from said computer. Said still images depict individuals under the age of 18 engaged in, among other things, the lascivious exhibition of the genitals and pubic area. All of the images recovered depict actual, as opposed to computer generated, images of minors engaged in such conduct.

On April 2, 2010 KEENAN was interviewed by investigators and said, among other things, that he (i) searched for child pornography from both the Internet and through file-sharing programs such as Limewire and Frostwire; (ii) that he used known child pornography search terms such as “pthc” and “lolita”; (iii) that he knew that in order to view a child pornography image it had to be downloaded to his computer; and (iv) that when using file-sharing software, downloaded images of child pornography were being put into his shared folder.

Sentencing was scheduled by Judge Hurd for August 26, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Utica, New York. KEENAN faces a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment and a $250,000.00 fine. KEENAN was released pending his sentencing.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Capital Region Cyber Predator Task Force.