Man Sentenced in Child Pornography Case

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Joseph T. Sautter, 38, of Blasdell, New York, who was convicted of possession of child pornography, was sentenced to 48 months in prison and five years of supervised release by Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, who handled the case, stated that Sautter was employed as a teacher for the Dunkirk Public Schools teaching English as a second language to children in kindergarten through fifth grade. An investigation began when the district's superintendent contacted the FBI after suspected child pornography was discovered on a school computer that Sautter had used. Additional child pornography was found on Sautter's home computer. In total, authorities determined that the defendant possessed almost 1,500 images of child pornography. The school district fully cooperated with the FBI in this case.

In sentencing the defendant, Judge Skretny told Sautter he has abused the trust of the school and the families of the students in the district. Sautter relinquished his teaching license as a result of this case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The sentencing was the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Jamestown Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of James H. Robertson, Special Agent In Charge.