Larry Cole, 43, Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison on Multiple Child Pornography Charges

Richard S. Hartunian, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York; Clifford C. Holly, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany Division; Gary Howard, Tioga County Sheriff; and James Dadamio, Director of Broome County Security Division, make the following announcement:

As a result of an investigation conducted by the Southern Tier Cyber Predator Task Force (STCPTF)1, defendant Larry Cole, 43, of Lockwood, New York, was sentenced today in federal court in Binghamton, New York. Defendant Cole was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.

On August 16, 2011, defendant Cole pleaded guilty to all five counts of a five-count indictment.

There was no plea agreement in this case. Defendant pleaded guilty to the following charges: production of child pornography, Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251(a) & (e) [counts one and two of the indictment. The production counts involved the production of images of a minor]; distribution of child pornography, Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(2) [count three of the indictment]; receiving child pornography, Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(2) [count four of the indictment]; accessing with intent to view/possession of child pornography, Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(4)(B) [count five of the indictment].

By pleading guilty, Larry Cole admitted the following: Between July of 2010 and November of 2010, defendant Cole chatted online via the Internet and computers from his residence in Lockwood, New York with several separate undercover police officers (UCs). Cole communicated with a UC in Canada and with other separate UCs in the United States (outside NY State). During his communications with the Canadian UC, Cole told the UC that he was sexually abusing minors and taking photographs of a minor in sexually explicit acts. Using a digital camera, Cole took sexually explicit photographs of a 10-year-old minor. Cole next distributed/sent via computer and Internet to the Canadian UC several images of child pornography of the 10-year-old minor. The Canadian authorities contacted the Southern Tier Cyber Predator Task Force (STCPTF) which then resulted in the apprehension and arrest of Larry Cole. Additionally, Cole distributed and received other child pornography materials using computers and the Internet.

The investigation commenced around August 23, 2010, a police officer in Toronto, Canada signed onto an undercover account on the GigaTribe peer-to-peer file-sharing network. He observed someone with the username clark2159 had requested to be his “friend.” The undercover officer accepted the invitation and the user, later determined to be the defendant Larry Cole, was added to his contact list. The officer browsed the defendant’s files that defendant was offering to share and observed numerous images of child pornography. The officer consequently downloaded 19 images of child pornography and three videos of child pornography, including a prepubescent child performing oral sex on an adult male; an adult male touching the vagina of a prepubescent girl on a web cam; and a prepubescent girl performing oral sex on an adult male on a web cam.

The undercover officer was able to determine that the user was located in the Southern Tier. He also located a profile for “clark2159” on a website known to host child pornographic images. His profile had a link to four albums: my friends kid; from long island trip cute kids; friends neighbors kids; and bath time and pool fun (password protected). The officer entered the first three albums, but was unable to enter the fourth album because it was password protected. Although none of the images were pornographic, it appeared whomever took the images had close access to the pictured children. The officer then reconnected to the GigaTribe network and downloaded three folders of images and discovered that many of the children who appeared in the albums also appeared in the downloaded folders. A further comparison revealed four images of the same prepubescent girl. In three of the images, the girl was sitting naked on a kitchen counter top exposing her vagina. It appeared the girl was the same girl depicted in images contained in the “fun time at a friends” album, and that “clark2159” had access to this child and had taken these pornographic images.

On August 24, 2010, the Toronto undercover officer received 11 images of children from defendant Larry Cole; one of which was a sexually explicit image that defendant Cole took of a victim/minor. The undercover officer also chatted with defendant Cole and defendant Cole disclosed the following information to the undercover officer. Cole informed him that he was 42 years old (at that time) and had access to several children. Cole told the undercover officer that Cole had sexually assaulted children/minors and that Cole was sexually attracted to minors from “baby to 16.” Cole also told the undercover officer that he took sexually explicit images/photographed a minor and gave the minor Ambien, a sleep aid, so the minor would sleep through the photographs and sexual abuse. Cole told the undercover that he intended to take more explicit photos of the minor and forward them to the undercover officer in exchange for other child pornography.

On that same day, an FBI agent in California, also acting in an undercover capacity, accessed the GigaTribe network and downloaded 161 files directly from defendant Cole. Most of these files were of child pornography.

On August 25, 2010, an FBI undercover task force officer in Connecticut used the GigaTribe network to query his network of “friends” and observed that “clark2159” was online. The officer browsed defendant Cole’s shared directories and downloaded 145 files of child pornography.

On September 1 and 6, 2010, the Toronto undercover officer again downloaded numerous images of child pornography from defendant Cole. On both occasions, the defendant was sharing these files from a different IP address. This IP address was also identified by FBI agents in Illinois and in Texas, who also downloaded over 200 files of child pornography or child erotica from defendant Cole in September and October 2010. A subsequent record check revealed the IP address was subscribed to Larry Cole in Lockwood, New York.

The Toronto undercover officer downloaded child pornography from defendant Cole on two more occasions in October of 2010. On November 2, 2010, the undercover officer chatted online with defendant Cole and defendant Cole provided the following information to the undercover officer. Cole informed the undercover officer that Cole sexually abused several children when they were minors; that he continues to take, and attempt to take, sexually explicit photographs of one victim minor; that he sexually abused a minor including oral and anal sex; that he sexually abused another minor including oral, vaginal, and anal sex; and that he used to put photographs of one minor on a web cam for close friends and give that minor a mild sleep aid so he can abuse the minor.

On November 5, 2010, a federal judge authorized a search warrant which was executed at the defendant’s residence in Lockwood, New York. Among other items, investigators seized three computers and six digital cameras, including a Canon Powershot. It was determined that defendant Cole used this camera to take sexually explicit photographs of a minor and on August 24, 2010, he sent at least one of these sexually explicit photos to the undercover officer in Toronto.

During a forensic examination of the defendant’s Acer Aspire laptop computer conducted by the Broome County Security Division CATS unit, the examiner identified 518 videos of child pornography, including videos of sexual acts between infants and adults. Forensics also identified 14 videos, in particular, due to their violent nature, which involved sexual acts perpetrated against infants with rape scenes, bondage scenes, and various objects being used on the victims. In one video, entitled “NEW tod rape.1 (sound),” an adult male is seen having anal sex with an infant boy. In another video, entitled “real rape & snuff of a mum & 2yo daughter,” a mother and her toddler daughter are raped by a group of men. Other videos capture the rape and torture of infants and toddlers with descriptive titles. Nearly all the video files were located in a folder called “the goods.” The examiner also book marked 654 images out of thousands of child pornographic images. Many of the book marked images depict violent acts perpetrated against infants with rape scenes, bondage scenes, and various objects being used on the victims.

The forensic examiner also identified 30 photographs located in a folder which depict a victim minor who appears to be asleep in many of the images and in several of the images the minor is partially nude or the genitalia is exposed. The examiner determined that the images were taken with a Kodak Easyshare digital camera on June 2, 2010 and with a Canon Powershot digital camera between June and October 2010.

On November 5, 2010, defendant Cole agreed to accompany FBI agents and other officers to the Tioga County Sheriff’s Department, at which time he waived his Miranda rights and confessed to sexually abusing four different minor children. Additionally, Cole also confessed to producing, distributing, receiving, and possessing child pornography. Cole signed a written confession detailing his conduct.

Cole has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest in 2010. Following his sentencing today, he will be transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to commence serving his 40-year sentence.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Miroslav Lovric. Further inquiries may be directed to the United States Attorney’s Office, Binghamton branch office at (607) 773-2887.

1 The Southern Tier Cyber Predator Task Force (STCPTF) consists of the following agencies: New York State Police; Binghamton Police Department; Broome County District Attorney’s Office; Broome County Security Division; Broome County Sheriff’s Office; Endicott Police Department; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Johnson City Police Department; Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office; Tioga County Sheriff’s Office; Delaware County Sheriff’s Office; Ithaca Police Department; Cortland Police Department; SUNY Binghamton University Police; Vestal Police Department; and Cornell University Police.

http://www.fbi.gov/albany/press-releases/2012/lockwood-man-sentenced-to-40-years-in-prison-on-multiple-child-pornography-charges