Florida Truck Driver Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Neal Braden, age 61, of Kissimmee, Florida, pled guilty today to one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Janelle M. Miller, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Braden, who remains in custody pending his sentencing on September 28, 2018, faces a minimum sentence of 5 years of imprisonment and up to 20 years of imprisonment on the distribution count and up to 10 years of imprisonment on the possession count.  Sentences of imprisonment may be concurrent or consecutive at the discretion of the Court. The Court will also impose a term of supervised release of between five (5) years and life, and Braden will be required to register as a sex offender.

As part of his guilty plea, Braden admitted that he downloaded videos of child pornography over the internet and that he possessed those videos on his laptop computer in his commercial truck when he was stopped by the New York State Police for failing to have the appropriate Highway Use Tax documentation displayed on his vehicle. A search of Braden’s laptop computer revealed that he possessed 19 videos depicting child pornography. Braden also pled guilty to an indictment pending in the Western District of Missouri that charged him with possessing child pornography in 2015.

This case was investigated by the New York State Police-Troop D, the Morgan County (Missouri) Sheriff's Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albany and Kansas City Field Offices.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Geoffrey J. L. Brown (NDNY) and Ashley Turner (WDMO).

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.