SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Brian T. Whipple, age 42, of New Berlin, New York pled guilty today to receipt and possession of child pornography. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman, Matthew Scarpino, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations, and New York State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen.
According to the offer of proof filed by the government and admitted to by Whipple during his change of plea hearing, he used peer-to-peer file sharing programs from 2009 through 2020 to knowingly receive child pornography images and videos. When Whipple was arrested in June 2020, he had over 5,000 child pornography files (images and videos) on DVDs, a thumb drive, and his cellular telephone.
At sentencing scheduled for June 14, 2022, Whipple faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of 20 years for the receipt offense. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment for each of the three counts of possession of child pornography to which he pled guilty. In addition to imprisonment, Whipple can be fined up to $250,000 per count, will be required to pay restitution to the victims of his child pornography receipt and possession offenses, and will be required to serve a term of supervised release after imprisonment of between five years and life. Whipple also will have to register as sex offender upon his release. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the statutes the defendant violated, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations in cooperation with the New York State Police and the Chenango County District Attorney’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Gadarian 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). 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.