Man pleads guilty to receiving child sex abuse images

[Reacher]

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A Castleton-on-Hudson man pleaded guilty to receiving child sex abuse images on Friday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Zachary Cota, 31, will be sentenced to at least 21 years and 10 months in prison.

Cota admitted to using Snapchat to solicit three children to send him nude photos. After two children under 14 years old provided the photos, Cota allegedly threatened to reveal the photos as a way to solicit more photos.

At the time of these crimes, Cota was already on probation for sexual conduct against a child. When Cota’s probation officer asked to see Cota’s phone, it was reported that Cota locked himself in a bathroom and tried to delete its contents. The U.S. Attorney’s Office reports that upon a search of Cota’s phone, it was revealed that there were 900 child sex abuse images on it.

 

[MrDawn]

I found an article stating that he used Snap Chat to get these pictures. That's pretty screwed up. You'd figure the platform would be getting some major backlash over this.

Cota admitted that he used SnapChat to solicit three children to send him nude photos. After an 8-year-old and a 13-year-old provided the requested photos, Cota threatened to reveal what they had done, in an effort to obtain more child pornography from them. At the time of these crimes, Cota was on probation for a course of sexual conduct against a child. When his probation officer asked to see Cota’s phone, Cota locked himself in a bathroom and began deleting its contents. A search of Cota’s phone revealed an additional 900 images of child pornography, including screenshots of a video chat between Cota and a naked child.

Rensselaer County Sex Offender Convicted of Receiving Child Pornography

www.justice.gov