James Ramos, 59, of Ballston Spa, was sentenced to 180 months in prison and a lifetime of supervised release on charges of possession of child pornography, following an investigation by agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Albany, according to information from ICE.
HSI agents and officers from the New York State Parole Office arrested Ramos at his residence in November 2008, and seized one laptop computer and about 16 CDs, according to ICE officials. In March 2009, a superseding indictment was issued by a Grand Jury in the Northern District of New York against Ramos on two counts of receipt of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography, and Ramos informed HSI agents he was responsible for viewing child pornography via the Internet, according to information from ICE.
In June 2010, Ramos was convicted following a three-day jury trial and was found guilty on one count of receipt of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography, according to information from ICE.
Ramos was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals on Nov. 23.
ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. The hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.
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