Saratoga County Man Arrested on Child Pornography Possession Charge

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Zachary L. Duchesne, age 25, of Stillwater, New York, appeared in court today on a charge of possessing child pornography.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Kevin Kelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A criminal complaint alleges that in June 2019, Duchesne maintained a Dropbox account that he used to possess images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. The charges in the complaint are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

If convicted of the charge set forth in the complaint, Duchesne faces up to 20 years in prison, a term of post-release supervision of at least 5 years and up to life, and a fine of $250,000.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.

Duchesne appeared today before United States Magistrate Judge Christian F. Hummel, and was ordered detained.

Anyone with information relevant to this investigation may call HSI’s Albany office at (518) 220-2129.

This case is being investigated by HSI, with assistance from the Stillwater Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.

This case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood.  Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and is designed to marshal 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.