Former Ithaca College Student Pleads Guilty to Transportation and Possession Of Child Pornography

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Nicholas Feminella, age 21, of Ithaca, New York, pled guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy to one count of transportation of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Vadim D. Thomas, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Feminella, who was detained pending his sentencing, faces at least five years of imprisonment and up to 20 years of imprisonment on the transportation count and up to 20 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 Feminella will be required to register as a sex offender. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

As part of his guilty plea, Feminella admitted that he transported videos of child pornography by uploading them from his computer to a Drop Box account. On November 3, 2015, investigators searched Feminella’s residence, and recovered thousands of images and hundreds of videos depicting child pornography. Sentencing is scheduled for September 11, 2017, in Albany, New York.

This case is being investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York State Police-Computer Crime Unit and the New York State Police, Troop C, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Geoffrey J. L. Brown.

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.