Two Men Prosecuted on Child Pornography Charges by U.S. Attorney’s Office

The U.S. Attorney's Office out of Syracuse has announced the arrest of one man and the sentencing of another on child pornography charges.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York Antoinette Bacon announced that 42-year-old Brian Whipple of New Berlin was arraigned Tuesday on an indictment filed by a federal grand jury on charges related to the distribution of and possession of child pornography.

The grand jury indictment states Whipple allegedly used an internet based peer-to-peer file sharing service in order to receive and download the pornographic images of children on multiple devices. The alleged activity occurred from approximately 2009 through June of 2020. At this time the U.S. Attorney's Office has only charged Whipple with these alleged crimes and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, if Whipple is convicted he will face a possible minimum sentence of five years in prison, a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of between five years and life. He will also have to register as a sex offender.

Acting U.S. Attorney Bacon also announced the sentencing of an Oneida man related to a child pornography conviction. Officials say 55-year-old Greg Gauthier was sentenced to 15 years in prison Tuesday for distributing and possessing child pornography. As part of his guilty plea, Gauthier admitted to using a social media messaging app to distribute the child porn over the internet and by using his cell phone. Officials say a forensic review of Gauthier's devices turned up 71 images and 98 videos depicting sexual acts by children. Officials say Gauthier is already serving an 18 years to life prison sentence on prior convictions and has several of them. Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy also tacked on to Gauthier's sentence a 15 year term of supervised release, which will start after Gauthier is released from federal prison and ordered Gauthier to pay restitution in the amount of $9,000.