An Ontario County man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Rochester to transferring obscene material.
Last July, Preston Herbst, of Canandaigua, was sentenced to serve 36 months in prison after being convicted on a federal charge of possession of child pornography. The 27-year-old was allowed to self-surrender to the Bureau of Prisons and was scheduled to begin his sentence on October 12th.
Before self-surrendering on September 3rd the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received information that a user had uploaded child pornography to the Snapchat platform. A subsequent investigation traced the user back to Herbst’s residence. In October and November, search warrants were executed on Herbst’s Snapchat account and at his residence. The search of the account determined that Herbst used the account to trade child pornography in September after he had been sentenced, but before self-surrendering to the Bureau of Prisons. Herbst was under the supervision of United States Probation when the uploads took place and had been using a prohibited device in violation of his release conditions.
The plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia.
Herbst faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when sentenced in September.
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