SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Lawrence Berry, 27, of Marathon, New York pled guilty today to one count of conspiracy to sexually exploit a child and five counts of sexual exploitation of a child, announced Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
As part of his guilty plea, Berry admitted that he conspired with Brittany Berry (who has already pleaded guilty to the same charges) to sexually exploit a 3-year-old minor child in August and September of 2018 and that he directed Brittany Berry to sexually exploit the child on five different occasions for the purpose of creating and sending images and videos (live and recorded) of the sexual abuse to him over the internet.
Sentencing is scheduled for November 23, 2021 in Utica before United States District Judge David N. Hurd. Berry faces a minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison on each of the six counts of conviction. He also will be required to spend at least 5 years and up to a lifetime term on post-imprisonment supervised release. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors. Upon release from prison Berry will be required to register as a sex offender in any state where he lives, is employed, or is a student.
This case was investigated by the FBI and the City of Cortland Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Adrian LaRochelle as part of Project Safe Childhood.
Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and is designed to marshal 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.
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