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Press Release

Salina Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Exploiting Three Children

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

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - Charles Poltenson, 28, of Salina, New York, pled guilty today to three counts of sexual exploitation of a child, announced Acting United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Vadim D. Thomas, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

 

In entering his guilty plea today, Poltenson admitted that he recorded via the internet three minor children engaged in sexually explicit conduct over a three-year period.

 

As part of his guilty plea, Poltenson admitted that from 2014 through 2016 he used the real-time video technology of Skype to chat with numerous female children online.  During the course of these Skype chat sessions, Poltenson persuaded, induced, enticed, or coerced girls between the ages of 10 and 15 to engage in sexually explicit conduct. While engaging in these online interactions with children, the defendant misrepresented his true-identity, pretending to be a 16- year old teen. Charles Poltenson’s actual age at the time was between 24 and 26 years old.

 

As part of his guilty plea, Poltenson further admitted that in addition to the live Skype sessions, he also used the internet to send voice recordings with specific instructions about sexually explicit videos he wanted various female children between the ages of 10-15 to create for him.  In response to his instructions, girls between the ages of 10 and 15 created sexually explicit videos for the defendant.  

 

United States District Judge Hon. Brenda K. Sannes will sentence Poltenson on April 13, 2018. He faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years imprisonment on each count, with a maximum penalty of 30 years imprisonment per count. He will be required to serve a term of supervised release of a minimum of 5 years, and up to life, following his term of imprisonment.  Poltenson will also be required to register as a sex offender.

 

This joint investigation was conducted by the FBI Syracuse Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Force. This task force is comprised of FBI Agents and Investigators of the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. 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.

Updated October 18, 2017

Topic
Project Safe Childhood