Warren County Sex Offender Sentenced to 137 Months on Child Pornography Conviction

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Peter Bratis, age 44, of Chestertown, New York, was sentenced today to 137 months in prison for possessing child pornography with a prior conviction for abusive sexual conduct involving a minor.

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.

In pleading guilty, Bratis admitted to using a Google Drive account to store images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct between February 24, 201 and August 4, 2022.  Bratis had previously been convicted in Warren County Court of an offense involving abusive sexual conduct of a minor, specifically rape in the second degree.  Bratis has been in custody since his arrest on August 25, 2022.

Chief United States District Judge Brenda K. Sannes also sentenced Bratis to 25 years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment. Bratis will continue to be required 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.