Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Defendant sent undercover federal agent 345 CSAM files depicting children as young as one year old
BOSTON – An Amherst man pleaded guilty on Feb. 5, 2025 in federal court in Boston to distribution and possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Bradley Driscoll, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for May 13, 2025. Driscoll was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2023.
The investigation determined that on or about Aug. 29, 2022, Driscoll knowingly distributed and possessed CSAM. Specifically, Driscoll engaged in a Kik on-line chat conversation with an undercover agent, where he expressed an interest in obtaining CSAM materials. Driscoll also distributed a link to the undercover agent which contained approximately 345 CSAM files depicting minor children, some as young as one year old, being sexually penetrated by adult males.
In September 2023, Driscoll told federal agents that he was the owner of the Kik username and that he located the link containing CSAM files through other Kik messenger chat groups. He acknowledged asking the undercover agent to send him sexual material related to child pornography and acknowledged that the Mega link he shared contained sexual materials involving young children.
The distribution charge provides for a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in prison, supervised release of no less than five years and a maximum of life and a $250,000 fine. The possession charge provides for up to 20 years in prison, a mandatory minimum of five years and up to life of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations; and Gabriel Ting, Chief of the Amherst Police Department made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of the Major Crimes Unit.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identity and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.