SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – John T. Flinn, age 27, of Canastota, New York was sentenced yesterday to serve 17 years imprisonment to be followed by 10 years of supervised release for his conviction for sexual exploitation of a child. Flinn also will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from incarceration.
The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon, Special Agent in Charge Kevin M. Kelly, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Buffalo, New York, and Special Agent in Charge Kevin D. Sibley, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa, Florida.
As part of his previously entered guilty plea, Flinn admitted that he took sexually explicit images of an approximately six-year-old victim on three different occasions. Flinn also admitted that he possessed other images of child pornography, including images of toddlers and images depicting sadistic and masochistic sexual abuse of children.
This case was investigated by the New York State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (Syracuse, New York and Tampa, Florida) and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 http://www.justice.gov/psc/.