Source: United States Department of Justice News
PROVIDENCE – A Hopkinton man who previously admitted to a federal judge that he possessed and shared child pornography while he was awaiting trial in Rhode Island state court in two unrelated child pornography cases was sentenced today to six years in federal prison, announced United States attorney Zachary A. Cunha.
Christopher Leherissier, 34, admitted that in February 2021, he uploaded video files of child pornography involving prepubescent children via an account on the online messenger application Kik that he managed and that he used to store child pornography.
Members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force identified an IP address, email address, and a Kik screenname Leherissier untilized to upload images of child pornography. Task Force members identfied 160 images and 124 videos of child pornography stored on a mobile device and a hard drive seiezed from Leherisser at the time of his arrest; and 80 images and 101 videos of child pornography stored in two email accounts he controlled.
At the time of his arrest in this matter, Leherissier was on pre-trial on two different cases pending in Rhode Island state court involving charges of allegedly solicitating a minor and disseminating indecent matter to that minor in early 2020; and, in a separate matter dated from the fall of 2020, for allegedly being in possession of child pornography stored in a DropBox account as well as on his electronic devices.
Related to his most recent arrest, Leherisser pleaded guilty in federal court on November 15, 2022, to charges of distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to seventy-two months of incarceration to be followed by ten years of federal supervised release. Additionally, Leherisser is ordered to pay a statutory mandated restitution in the amount of $3,000 to each of eight identified victims who appear in images and videos shared by Leherisser and who sought restitution.
The matter prosecuted in U.S. District Court was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dulce Donovan.
Homeland Security Investigations assisted the ICAC Task Force in the investigation of this matter.
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