Newbold man sentenced for possession of child pornography

A Newbold man who pleaded guilty in December to charges of transporting obscene material in interstate commerce on two separate occasions was sentenced on Feb. 26 to eight years in federal prison.

On Sept. 17, 2023, an individual called law enforcement to report that he had found a duffel bag along a logging trail in the town of Newbold.

An officer seized the duffel bag and brought it to the Oneida County sheriff’s office.

The duffel bag contained approximately 27 USB flash drives, SD cards, several CDs and other electronics.

Officers identified the profile on a laptop found in the bag as that of James Hornung. Agents analyzed the laptop and six flash drives that were submitted from the duffel and found almost 3,500 media files that appeared to be child pornography.

Officers interviewed Hornung who admitted that he owned the duffel bag and said there was child pornography on the discs and flash drives.

Hornung said that he searched and collected child pornography, put it into the duffel bag and hid it because he was paranoid that he would get caught with it.

In sentencing Hornung, U.S. District Judge William M. Conley said he believed Hornung left the duffel bag so that he could retrieve it after he was released from custody and keep possession of his child pornography collection.

Conley also said he found it aggravating that Hornung was accessing child pornography while on bond on another child pornography case.

Conley observed Hornung was a sexual predator who was either unwilling or unable to address his long-standing attraction to minors.

In addition to this federal conviction, Hornung was convicted of second-degree sexual assault in 1979, sexual assault of child in 1997 and possession of child pornography in 2023.