Police: City man arrested with 307 child porn videos

File Photo/ ALEJANDRO ESCAMILLA

Police arrested a city man Tuesday for possessing more than 300 videos of child pornography and then alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigations to the trove of sexual abuse images, according to the Cortland Police Department.

Benjamin W. Barrett, 34, of 7 Church St. Apt. 8, was charged with possession of a sexual performance of a child and possession of an obscene sexual performance by a child, both felonies.

Barrett was charged with both felonies as some of the 307 videos stored on an app on his cell phone were of prepubescent girls alone, while others were of the girls performing various sexual acts on men, said Lt. Michael Strangeway.

Police received information Barrett had child pornography on his phone and started an investigation on Sunday, Strangeway said.

The tip allowed detectives to apply for and receive a search warrant to seize Barrett’s phone and examine its contents, he said.

An initial search of the phone revealed the sexual abuse videos, Strangeway said.

The different girls in the videos were not identified, he added.

Making the F.B.I. aware of the case allows the bureau to pursue federal charges against Barrett if the agency decides to, Strangeway said. Federal codes prohibit the possession of child pornography, as well as the downloading of sexual abuse imagery from the Internet, according to the Justice Department.

If convicted under state law, Barrett could face no more than 1 ⅓ to 4 years in prison, according to the penal code. Under federal law, Barrett could be sentenced to no less than 5 and no more than 20 years in prison if convicted, according to the Justice Department.

Barrett was released and is set to appear Jan. 13. The charges levied against Barrett do not qualify bail of any kind under state bail reform enacted Jan 1.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports it has received 42.9 million reports of child pornography since 2018, more than 267 million images and videos have been reviewed and 15,000 children sexually abused in the images have been identified. 

Reports of suspected child pornography can be reported to the center at CyberTipline.org.