ALBANY, NEW YORK – Peter Bratis, age 43, of Chestertown, New York, pled guilty today to possessing child pornography.
United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.
Bratis admitted to using a Google Drive account to store images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct between February 24, 2021 and August 4, 2022.
Bratis, who has a prior conviction for rape in the second degree, for which he is a registered sex offender, faces at least 10 years and up to 20 years in prison, and a term of supervised release of at least 5 years and up to life, when Chief United States District Judge Brenda K. Sannes sentences him on January 12, 2024. 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. Bratis would also have to continue to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
HSI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emmet O’Hanlon and Joseph Hartunian prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood.
Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s 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.
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