ALBANY, NEW YORK - Kristin Blair Hiltunen, age 37, of Amsterdam, New York, was sentenced today to 228 months in prison for sexually exploiting a minor. United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.
As part of her guilty plea, Hiltunen admitted that between April 2021 and August 2021, she engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor victim who was under 16 years of age. During this period of time, Hiltunen exchanged thousands of messages with the victim over a social media application through which she persuaded, induced, and enticed the victim to take sexually explicit images of themselves and send the images to Hiltunen. Hiltunen further engaged in livestreamed video chats with the victim during which they engaged in sexual acts.
United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby also imposed a 20-year term of supervised release to begin after Hiltunen is released from prison. Hiltunen will be required to register as a sex offender as a result of this conviction.
This case was investigated by the FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the Rotterdam Police Department, as well as the New York State Police. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rachel L. Williams as part of Project Safe Childhood.
Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). Project Safe Childhood marshals 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, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys