SYRACUSE, NY – A Syracuse man has pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography from multiple minors via SnapChat, according to a recent guilty plea. William Futrell, 31, was found guilty of ten counts of receipt of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years with a maximum of 40 years imprisonment.
As part of his guilty plea, Futrell admitted to using SnapChat to communicate with minors from across the country. In some instances, Futrell would offer to pay the minor children to entice them to send explicit images to him, but with no intention of ever paying them.
The investigation revealed that on at least ten occasions, Futrell obtained images depicting the children engaged in sexually explicit conduct directly from the minor children. Futrell is a registered sex offender with a previous conviction for possession of child pornography in New York.
Law enforcement officials announced that the offenses to which Futrell pled guilty were uncovered through the efforts of the United States Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the New York State Police (NYSP) Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Futrell is scheduled to be sentenced on September 20, 2024, where he will face an imprisonment term of 262 months, as agreed upon by the parties. He will also be required to serve a post-imprisonment term of supervised release of between five years and life, pay a fine of up to $250,000.00, and provide restitution to the victims.
Futrell’s guilty plea is part of Project Safe Childhood, a program launched by the federal government in 2006 to combat child exploitation and abuse.
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. The program is led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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