Ex-sheriff’s sergeant sentenced for child porn

CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. >> A former Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office sergeant was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Peter Farnum, 42, of Clifton Park, must also adhere to a 20-year term of supervised release following his incarceration. The prison sentence is for 87 months.

Farnum was convicted last June 5 after a two-week jury trial.

Evidence at trial established that Farnum possessed more than 1,000 image and video files of child pornography on his family computer. These included image files that he imported through the computer’s RealPlayer application while he conducted online research related to his position with the Sheriff’s Office, and while his wife was in the hospital.

This case was investigated by the FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force, with assistance from the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne A. Myers.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph A. Giovannetti prosecuted the case to trial.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorneys’ 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 go to https:// www.justice.gov/psc.