Ilion, N.Y. — A Herkimer County man was sentenced Wednesday after he pled guilty to trading child pornography with others through a social media app, federal prosecutors said.
John Patrick Galusha, 32, of Ilion, was sentenced to 138 months in federal prison for distributing and receiving child pornography through Kik messenger, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Wednesday.
Court documents and prosecutors provided the following details:
On Jan. 24, 2022, an FBI Task Force Officer acted undercover and monitored a private Kik group being used by members to share, receive and possess child pornography. The undercover officer sent a message to the group saying they could message them privately.
The officer received a message from a Kik user believed to be Galusha. Galusha introduced himself and the two engaged in conversation about sex abuse material of children they each claimed to have access to.
Galusha shared two images of his genitalia, multiple photos of himself with a child who he said he was actively sexually abusing, and a video of the child performing sexual acts. Galusha said he received the video from the child’s phone.
Three days later, authorities tracked an IP address to a home in Ilion. An email address from Galusha’s Kik account was also associated with a telephone number that belonged to him.
Authorities obtained a search warrant for Galusha’s home and searched it the next day. Officers recovered Galusha’s phone and discovered the video the child sent to Galusha.
During an interview, Galusha admitted that he traded child pornography with others through Kik messaging, distributing about 35 files in exchange for 163 images and 7 videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children.
Along with his sentence, Galusha will have a 15 year supervised release after he is out of prison, will have to pay restitution and to forfeit the device he used to commit the offenses.
Galusha also will have to register as a sex offender after…
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