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Press Release

Springfield Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts

BOSTON – Alex Germaine, 30, of Springfield, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Springfield to possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Dec. 19, 2017.

Germaine accessed a Russian child pornography website and possessed multiple images of child pornography on his cell phone, including an image involving a sex act perpetrated by an adult male against a prepubescent female. Law enforcement executed a search warrant on July 26, 2016, and seized Germaine’s cell phone, which revealed the images. A subsequent search warrant was executed on Nov. 10, 2016, at Germaine’s residence in Springfield, where law enforcement seized computer discs containing child pornography.

If the Court accepts the plea agreement, Germaine will be sentenced to 10 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and West Springfield Police Chief Ronald Campurciani made the announcement today.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Weinreb's Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood.  In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse.  Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.          

Updated September 13, 2017

Topic
Project Safe Childhood