Oneida Man Pleads Guilty to Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Greg Gauthier, age 55, of Oneida, 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, Nicholas Boshears, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Acting New York State Police Superintendent Kevin Bruen. 

At sentencing Gauthier faces at least 15 and up to 60 years imprisonment on the charges.  The Court must also impose a term of supervised release of between five 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.  Sentencing is set for October 5, 2021.

As part of his guilty plea, Gauthier admitted that he used a social media messaging application to distribute images of child pornography over the internet, and that he possessed child pornography on his cellular telephone.  A forensic review of Gauthier’s cellular telephone revealed that it contained 71 image files and 98 video files depicting child pornography. 

Gauthier was previously convicted in Oneida County Court in 2014 for Possessing A Sexual Performance by A Child, and Promoting a Sexual Performance by a Child, in violation of the New York State Penal Law. He was sentenced to 16 months to 4 years in state prison for those offenses, and is registered with the New York State Sex Offender Registry as a Level 2 sex offender.

Gauthier’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),  and Computer Crimes Unit (CCU) with assistance from the Oneida 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.