Albany Man Pleads Guilty for Posing as a Teenage Boy Online to Obtain Child Sexual Abuse Material from a Minor Victim, and Obstructing Justice

Albany Man Pleads Guilty for Posing as a Teenage Boy Online to Obtain Child Sexual Abuse Material from a Minor Victim, and Obstructing Justice

CONCORD - An Albany man pleaded guilty today to a two-count Information charging him with Possession of and Access with Intent to View Child Pornography and Obstruction of Justice, U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan announces. According to the plea documents, the defendant, Brian Hargraves, 55, posed as a teenage boy online to obtain child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from a minor victim. After his devices were seized and his home searched, he then contacted the victim and asked her not to testify against him.

Hargraves was arrested in May 2025. He has been detained since that time.

On April 29, 2025, law enforcement conducted a search of Hargraves' mobile phones following a citizen complaint. A review of one of the phones revealed sexually explicit images and videos of a 16-year-old minor victim. Hargraves allegedly told the minor victim that he was a teenage boy and asked her to create explicit videos and images of herself to send to him. The evidence revealed that Hargraves was also in communication with other minors and was posing as a teenager in those communications as well.

"Brian Hargraves used the internet to take advantage of vulnerable minors," U.S. Attorney Creegan said. "Thanks to our law enforcement partners, his predatory and deceptive conduct was stopped and he will serve a significant prison sentence."

"Brian Hargraves posed as a teenage boy to manipulate an underage girl into sharing explicit images of herself and then tried to get her to obstruct our investigation," said Ted Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Boston Division. "No child should have to endure this kind of abuse. The FBI is gratified to bring him to justice and is working aggressively every day to put predators like this behind bars. We're determined to prevent them from creating any more victims and doing any more harm."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the investigation. Valuable assistance was provided by the Carroll County Sheriff's Department and the Conway Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Vicinanzo is prosecuting the case.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.