SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Jay Elhage, age 39, of Palermo, New York, was sentenced today to serve 13 years in prison for distributing, receiving, attempting to receive, and possessing child pornography. 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.
In addition to the 13-year term of imprisonment, Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy also imposed a 15-year term of supervised release to begin after Elhage is released from prison, ordered him to pay $15,000 in restitution to his victims, and imposed $600 in special assessments. Elhage also will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
During a 3-day jury trial in December 2021, the evidence established that Elhage used an online peer-to-peer file-sharing program to distribute, receive and attempt to receive child pornography and that he possessed thousands of child pornography images and videos on three devices found in the bedroom of his home.
This case was investigated by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the New York State Police-Computer Crimes Unit and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Geoffrey J.L. Brown and 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 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.