Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Burlington, Vermont – The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that on December 19, 2024, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Joshua Hartness, age 45, of Colebrook, New Hampshire, with possession of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). Hartness entered a plea of not guilty to the charges during an arraignment on December 20, 2024 before United States Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle. Judge Doyle ordered that Hartness be released on conditions. According to the indictment, Hartness allegedly possessed one or more images of CSAM between May 22 and August 26 in 2022.
The United States Attorney’s Office emphasizes that an indictment contains allegations only and that Hartness is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. Hartness faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The actual sentence, however, would be determined by the District Court with guidance from the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines and the statutory sentencing factors.
The prosecutor is Assistant United States Attorney Colin Owyang. Hartness is represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Barclay Johnson.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section(CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.