UTICA, NEW YORK

UTICA, NEW YORK – Thomas Wright, age 63, of Moriah Center, New York, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Thomas Wright, a resident of Moriah Center, New York, was sentenced to 120 months (10 years) in federal prison for possessing child pornography, following his earlier plea of guilty to the crime. United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) made the announcement.

In his previous guilty plea, Wright admitted to possessing 29,712 images and 276 videos of child pornography on an unauthorized smart phone, while on supervised release for a 2014 federal conviction for distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography. The crime was discovered during an unannounced home visit by his supervising federal probation officers.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children identified 4,835 of the images and 55 of the recovered video files as depicting 197 separate children whose images are in their database of known victims.

In addition to the 10-year sentence, Wright was sentenced to a consecutive 12-month term of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release from his prior offense. Wright was also ordered to pay a total of $81,000 in restitution to victims depicted in the child pornography he possessed. He was ordered to forfeit the smart phone used to commit the offense and will be placed on 25 years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment.

Wright will continue to be required to register as a sex offender. This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa M. Fletcher, Project Safe Childhood Coordinator for the Northern District of New York, prosecuted the case.

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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

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