Manlius Man Pleads Guilty to Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Chester Hammond, age 44, of Manlius, New York, pled guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy to one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of 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. 

Hammond, who remains detained pending his sentencing scheduled for July 27, 2021, faces at least 15 years in prison and up to 60 years imprisonment on the charges.  The Court will also impose a term of supervised release of between five (5) years and life. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.

As part of his guilty plea, Hammond admitted that while using a social media messaging application he sent an image depicting child pornography to another individual over the internet. A subsequent search of Hammond’s cellular telephone revealed that he was in possession of over 400 images of child pornography.   Hammond is registered sex offender who was convicted in 1996 of attempted sexual abuse in the first degree.

Hammond’s case was investigated by the FBI Syracuse Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Force, comprised of FBI Special Agents and Investigators of the New York State Police, Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), with assistance from the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey J. L. Brown 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.