SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Ted Serr, 38, of Syracuse, was sentenced today to serve 150 months in federal prison for distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography, announced 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.
As part of his guilty plea, Serr admitted that he actively traded child pornography images and videos using a social media messaging application on his cellular telephone, and that on June 2, 2021, he distributed a video file depicting sexual conduct with a child who was between 8 and 11 years old. Serr further admitted that on June 8, 2021, he received a video file depicting sexual conduct with a child who was between 3 and 5 years old. Finally, Serr admitted that on June 10, 2021, he knowingly possessed 52 image files and 452 video files depicting child pornography on his cellular telephone.
Senior United States District Judge Norman A. Mordue also imposed a 15-year term of supervised release, which will start after Serr is released from prison, and ordered Serr to pay $6,000 in restitution and a $300 special assessment. Serr will also be required to register as a sex offender.
Serr’s case was investigated by United States Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Investigators of the New York State Police, Computer Crimes Unit (CCU). The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey J.L. Brown 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.