Cobleskill Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Child Pornography Offenses

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jason M. VanBuren, age 44, of Cobleskill, New York, was sentenced today to serve 180 months in prison for receiving child pornography.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

At sentencing, Senior United States District Judge Gary L. Sharpe concluded that VanBuren also engaged in a pattern of activity involving the sexual abuse of a female child between the ages of 12 and 15, which Judge Sharpe was permitted to take into account in sentencing the defendant. 

Judge Sharpe also sentenced VanBuren to a life term of supervised release, to begin following his term of imprisonment.  VanBuren will be required to register as a sex offender following his release from prison.

VanBuren pled guilty on January 2, 2019 to an indictment charging two counts of receiving child pornography.

As part of his plea, VanBuren admitted using two smartphones equipped with instant messaging and file-sharing applications to download child pornography via the Internet.  Overall, VanBuren downloaded and retained over 1,000 images and videos depicting child pornography.

This case was investigated by the FBI, the Cobleskill Police Department, and the New York State Police Computer Crimes Unit, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet J. O’Hanlon.

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 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.