SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Jay Elhage, age 39, of Palermo, New York, was convicted yesterday of distribution, receipt, attempted receipt, and possession of child pornography following a three-day jury trial in federal court in Binghamton, New York. The jury convicted Elhage of all 6 counts alleged in the superseding indictment. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman, Matthew Scarpino, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Buffalo, New York Field Office, and New York State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen.
The evidence at trial established that Elhage used a peer-to-peer file sharing program to download and share child pornography on the internet and had a collection of child pornography on three devices found in the bedroom of his home.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 30, 2022, in Binghamton, New York, at which time Elhage faces a minimum of 5-years and a maximum sentence of 20-years in prison on each of his convictions for Distribution of Child Pornography, Receipt of Child Pornography, and Attempted Receipt of Child Pornography. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each of the 3-counts of possession of child pornography. For each count of conviction, the maximum fine is up to $250,000.00 and a period of post-incarceration supervised release of at least 5 years, and up to life. Upon release from prison, Elhage will be required to register as a sex offender in any state where he lives, is employed, or is a student. 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.
This case was investigated by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the New York State Police-Computer Crimes Unit and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Geoffrey J.L. Brown and Michael Gadarian as part of Project Safe Childhood.
Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorneys’ 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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