Herkimer County Man Sentenced to 138 Months in Prison for Distributing and Receiving Child Pornography

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – John Patrick Galusha, age 32, of Ilion, New York, was sentenced today to serve 138 months in prison for distributing and receiving child pornography. In addition to the prison term, Chief United States District Judge Brenda K. Sannes ordered Galusha to serve a term of supervised release of 15 years, to begin upon his release from prison, to pay restitution, and to forfeit the device he used to commit the offenses. Galusha also will have to register as a sex offender upon his release.

United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

As part of his previously entered guilty plea, Galusha admitted that, in January 2022, he traded child pornography with others over a social media messaging application on his phone, distributing approximately 35 files in exchange for 163 images and 7 videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children.

This 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), and Computer Crimes Unit (CCU) and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian.

This case was prosecuted as 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.