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Rensselaer County resident Zachary Cota, age 31, of Castleton-on-Hudson, pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography in Albany federal court on Friday, May 10.
According to prosecutors, Cota admitted to using SnapChat to get three children to send him nude photos. Two of the victims were 8 and 13 years old.
Once the children provided the requested photos, he reportedly threatened to reveal what they had done in order to get more illicit images from them.
At the time of the crimes, Cota was out on probation following a conviction for course of sexual conduct against a child. When his probation officer asked to see his phone, he locked himself in a bathroom and began deleting its contents, prosecutors said.
Investigators eventually found an additional 900 images of child pornography on his phone, including screenshots of a video chat between Cota and a naked child.
Cota faces between 21 and 27 years in federal prison when he’s sentenced on Friday, Sept. 6, and a fine of up to $250,000. He also agreed to forfeit the phone he used to commit the crimes.
The case was prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Childhood,” a coordinated effort between local, state, and federal agencies to track down individuals who exploit children using the internet.
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