Syracuse Man Sentenced To Life In Federal Prison For Producing Child Porn

Sunday, October 27, 2024, 2:00 P.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

SYRACUSE, NY.- On Thursday, October 24, 2024, Steven Valder, 34, of Syracuse, New York, and formerly of Cayuga County, New York, appeared in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of New York and was sentenced by a U.S. District Court Judge to Life, plus 120 months in federal prison, following his federal jury conviction on multiple child sexual exploitation offenses.

     According to U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman, in June, Valder was convicted by a federal jury of two counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Child for producing sexually explicit images of a 13-year-old boy, one count of Committing a Felony Offense Against a Minor as a Registered Sex Offender, and one count of Receiving Child Pornography. The jury found special circumstances in reaching their verdict that Valder committed the Sexual Exploitation Offenses after a prior conviction for a sex offense committed on a child.

     On Thursday, Valder was sentenced to concurrent mandatory life terms on each of the two Sexual Exploitation counts, a concurrent sentence of 480 months for Receiving Child Pornography over the internet, and a mandatory consecutive 120 months for committing the sexual exploitation offenses while being a registered sex offender.

According To Evidence Presented At Trial

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa M. Fletcher, who prosecuted the case, the evidence presented at trial showed that just one year after being released from prison for 2010 convictions in Cayuga County County Court for Criminal Sexual Act in the First-Degree (forcible anal sexual conduct with a 14-year-old child for which he received a 10-year New York State Prison sentence, and in federal court for Transportation and Possession of Child Pornography for which he was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison.

     Valder produced sexually explicit images of a 13-year-old boy, who he horrifically sexually abused multiple times for several months in multiple locations throughout the City of Syracuse. Valder also downloaded child pornography over the internet through Russian applications he downloaded on his cellular phone. While committing these crimes, Valder was a registered sex offender on both federal supervised release and New York State parole.

Crimes Discovered By Probation Officer

     Valder’s crimes came to light after his U.S. Federal Probation Officer found him in possession of an unauthorized smartphone that contained the digital images of the child victim and internet child pornography.