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Press Release

Fort Edward Man Sentenced to 292 Months for Sexually Exploiting a Child

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York

ALBANY, NEW YORK – James Mattison, age 47, of Fort Edward, New York, was sentenced today to 292 months in prison for sexually exploiting a child.

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. 

As part of his guilty plea, Mattison admitted that in October 2016, he exchanged more than 7,100 text messages with a 13-year-old boy whom he had met online using the Live.me phone application.  Mattison claimed to be a teenage girl named Megan Mattison, and coerced the victim into taking and sending sexually explicit photographs of himself by threatening to commit suicide if the victim refused. 

Senior United States District Judge Gary L. Sharpe also imposed a life term of supervised release, to begin after Mattison is released from prison.  Mattison will also have to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison. 

This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the New York State Police and Washington County Probation Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alicia G. Suarez. 

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.

Updated November 20, 2018

Topic
Project Safe Childhood