n Sentenced for Child Pornography Offense

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Saratoga Springs Man Sentenced for Child Pornography Offense
U.S. Attorney's Office January 12, 2011

* Northern District of New York (315) 448-0672

Richard S. Hartunian, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and Clifford C. Holly, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany Division, announced today that ROBERT DAVID PALMA, age 47, formerly of Saratoga Springs, New York, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy in Federal Court in Albany on his guilty plea to a one-count Information charging him with the possession of child pornography. PALMA was sentenced to 54 months and ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release. He also was ordered to (1) have no unsupervised contact with minors; (2) participate in a sex offender program; and (3) register with the New York State Sex Offender Registry Program.

PALMA pled guilty on September 13, 2010. In connection with his plea, he admitted the following in a written plea agreement and during his plea proceeding:

Beginning on approximately March 1, 2007 and continuing at periodic intervals until approximately June 1, 2009, ROBERT PALMA used a Canon digital camera to produce video images of two female minors (identified as Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2) engaged in the lascivious exhibition of their genital areas. Specifically, ROBERT PALMA, standing on a step ladder in the garage of his residence, directed the lens on the Canon digital camera at a hole in the ceiling of the garage that connected to the floor of a bathroom in the residence. The shower in this bathroom was regularly used by Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2. Using the video recording feature of the Canon digital camera, ROBERT PALMA produced at least 10 videos between March 1, 2007, and June 1, 2009, of Jane Doe #1 and/or Jane Doe #2 while they entered and exited the shower, towel dried their respective bodies after showering, and dressed/undressed before or after showering. At least five of these videos (hereinafter “Sexually Explicit Videos”) captured Jane Doe #1 or Jane Doe #2 engaged in sexually explicit conduct as that term is defined in 18 U.S.C. 2256(2). Specifically, these Sexually Explicit Videos captured Jane Doe #1 and/or Jane Doe #2 engaged in the lascivious exhibition of the genital and pubic areas. In producing the Sexually Explicit Videos, ROBERT PALMA used the zoom feature of the Canon digital camera to zoom-in on the naked genital and pubic areas of Jane Doe #1 or Jane Doe #2 as they entered and exited the shower, towel dried their respective body after showering, or dressed/undressed before or after showering. At the time that the Sexually Explicit Videos were produced by Robert Palma, both Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 were under the age of 18. Jane Doe #1 was between 15 and 17 years of age when the Sexually Explicit Videos were produced. Jane Doe #2 was between 12 and 14 years of age when the Sexually Explicit Videos were produced. After producing the Sexually Explicit Videos, ROBERT PALMA transferred the videos to two computers.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Cyber Predator Task Force and the Saratoga Springs Police Department.