Lewis County Man Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Randell Adsit, age 49, of Martinsburg, New York, was arrested yesterday and charged with distributing child pornography, announced Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon, Thomas F. Relford, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and New York State Police Superintendent Keith Corlett.

According to the complaint, Adsit, who was convicted in 2008 of possessing a sexual performance by a child less than 16 years old, used multiple usernames on a social media application to trade child pornography with other people over the internet. Due to his prior conviction, Adsit is required to register as a sex offender, and would also be required to do so if convicted of the charge alleged in the complaint.

The charge filed against Adsit carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 40 years in prison, a post-release term of supervision of between five years and life, and a fine of up to $250,000.  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.

Adsit made his initial appearance yesterday before Magistrate Judge Thérèse Wiley Dancks and was detained pending further proceedings.

The charge in the complaint is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the FBI Syracuse Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Force. This task force is comprised of FBI Special Agents and Investigators of the New York State Police, Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian as a 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.