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This article contains mentions of child sexual abuse material.
While “child pornography” is the legal terminology used to refer to such material, we are using the term “child sexual abuse material” (CSAM). According to advocacy organizations as well as the Justice Department, the term “better reflects the abuse that is depicted in the images and videos and the resulting trauma to the child.”
Justin Smith, also known as the popular adult film performer Austin Wolf, has been arrested on charges of sending and receiving “hundreds of videos of child pornography,” according to a June 28 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York.
Smith has been charged with one count of distribution and receipt of child pornography, which has a mandatory sentence of five years in prison and could lead to a maximum sentence of 20 years; and one count of possession of child pornography, which could lead to a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, the release states.
Per the legal complaint, Smith allegedly exchanged hundreds of videos containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) depicting children as young as infants via an anonymous Telegram account. The Federal Bureau of Investigation later seized and searched the phone of the person with whom Smith was corresponding. An undercover FBI agent then began a conversation with the anonymous Telegram account and uncovered details that indicated Smith was the person behind the account, according to the document.
In addition to exchanging such videos on Telegram, the FBI executed a search warrant at Smith’s Manhattan apartment on April 21 and found “an SD card with hundreds of videos containing child pornography,” per the press release.
Smith will be presented later today in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky. According to NBC News, information about who is representing Smith is not yet known.
This is a developing story.
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