ALBANY, NEW YORK – Keith Mussenden, age 38, of Schenectady, New York, pled guilty today to the sexual exploitation of a minor. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman 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, Mussenden admitted that between June 2019 and February 2020, he exchanged messages through multiple social media applications with the victim, a then-14-year-old girl who resided outside the State of New York. Through these messages, Mussenden persuaded, induced, and enticed the victim to take sexually explicit images of herself and send them to him over the Internet. Within the same timeframe, Mussenden also sent the victim pictures of his penis in the hopes of obtaining sexually explicit images of the victim in return. Mussenden further engaged in livestreamed video chats with the victim during which he requested that the victim perform sexual acts while he also engaged in sexual acts.
Mussenden, who remains detained pending his sentencing scheduled for October 26, 2022, faces at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison. The Court will also impose a term of supervised release of between 5 years and life, and Mussenden will be required to register as a sex offender as a result of this conviction. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.
This case was investigated by the FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the Rotterdam Police Department and the New York State Police. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rachel L. Williams and Dustin C. Segovia 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.