November 15, 2006
PRESS RELEASE

Scotia, New York, man was sentenced on his guilty plea to a one count Indictment charging him with the possession of child pornography.

Glenn T. Suddaby, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and John F. Pikus, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany Division, announced that JOHN A. HAMILTON, age 47 of Scotia, New York, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy in Federal Court in Albany on his guilty plea to a one count Indictment charging him with the possession of child pornography. HAMILTON was sentenced to 84 months imprisonment and ordered to serve a fifteen year term of supervised release. He also was ordered to (1) have no unsupervised contact with minors; (2) participate in a sex offender program; and (3) register with the New York State Sex Offender Registry Program. The court also ordered that various computer equipment be forfeited to the United States.

HAMILTON plead guilty on May 25, 2006. During his plea, he admitted that on a number of occasions, from October 5, 2004, until January 4, 2005, he emailed sexually explicit images of prepubescent minors to other individuals while in America Online chatrooms. On March 30, 2005, a federal search warrant was executed at HAMILTON'S home in Scotia and his computer was seized. A forensic examination of this computer was conducted and images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct were recovered. In addition, HAMILTON admitted that images were recovered from his computer which depict minors: (a) tied, bound, and or chained while engaging in sexually explicit conduct, (b) inserting objects into their vaginas or rectums; (c) being urinated on; and (d) crying while engaged in sexual activities. At the time of the search, HAMILTON was employed as a fireman in Scotia and was also employed as a bus driver for the Niskayuna Central School District.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Cyber Predator Task Force and the New York State Internet Crimes Against Children Task.

CONTACT:
Thomas Spina Jr.
Assistant U.S. Attorney
tel.(518) 431-0247