Brandon Himko Pleads Guilty to Receiving Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor

BINGHAMTON, NY—United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian announced that as a result of an investigation conducted by the Southern Tier Cyber Predator Task Force (STCPTF) defendant Brandon Himko, 26, of Johnson City, New York, pleaded guilty today in Federal Court in Binghamton, New York. Defendant Himko pleaded guilty to receiving material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2252(a)(2) & (b)(1).

During the plea proceeding, defendant Himko admitted the following facts. In December 2011, Brandon Himko contacted a 16-year-old girl (hereinafter the Victim) via the social networking site called Facebook. Himko and the Victim chatted online via Facebook. Himko next commenced to communicate with the Victim via texting from his cellular telephone to her cellular telephone. The Victim informed defendant that she was only 16 years of age. Defendant and the Victim exchanged hundreds of text messages to each other in December 2011 via cellular telephones. Many of the text messages exchanged between defendant and the Victim were sexual in nature and involved sexual content. Also in December 2011, Himko, using his cellular telephone camera, photographed his penis and sent the images of his penis to the Victim via texting SMS/MMS on his cellular telephone. The Victim received the images of Himko’s penis on her cellular telephone as sent by Himko. Himko requested that the Victim send him sexually explicit images of herself. In December 2011, the Victim, using her cellular telephone camera, photographed a close-up of her vagina and sent the image of her vagina to Himko via texting SMS/MMS on her cellular telephone. Himko received the image of the Victim’s vagina on his cellular telephone as sent by the Victim. Himko saved the image of the Victim’s vagina to Himko’s Sprint picture mail account where he could access and view it through his Sprint account. Thereafter, Himko requested that the Victim send him additional sexually explicit images of herself via her cellular telephone. At all times in December 2011 while Himko communicated with the Victim, Himko was a level-3 registered sex offender and was registered with the New York State Sex Offender Registry. Himko’s sex offender registration resulted from his April 11, 2008 felony conviction for rape in the Second Degree. Himko’s prior conviction stemmed from a rape of a minor.

Himko will be sentenced on December 7, 2012 in federal court in Binghamton, New York. At sentencing and if the court accepts the plea agreement, defendant Himko will be sentenced to 420 months (35 years) of imprisonment and a term of life supervised release to follow his imprisonment.

Himko is incarcerated and will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service until sentencing.

The Southern Tier Cyber Predator Task Force (STCPTF) consists of the following agencies: New York State Police; Binghamton Police Department; Broome County District Attorney’s Office; Broome County Security Division; Broome County Sheriff’s Office; Endicott Police Department; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Johnson City Police Department; Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office; Tioga County Sheriff’s Office; Delaware County Sheriff’s Office; Ithaca Police Department; Cortland Police Department; SUNY Binghamton University Police; Vestal Police Department; and Cornell University Police.