Whitehall man sentenced for child sex abuse image distribution

WHITEHALL, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that Kevin Smurphat, 35, of Whitehall, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for possessing, receiving, transporting and distributing child sex abuse images. Smurphat, a previously convicted sex offender, pleaded guilty back in November of 2023.

As part of his guilty plea, Smurphat admitted to using a cellphone to upload images depicting children being engaged in sexually explicit conduct to a file-hosting service in November of 2020. He also confessed to distributing and receiving such images to and from other people in a digital group chat, all while on parole.

In addition to his sentence, Smurphat was ordered to pay $7,000 in restitution to his victims. The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Segovia.