Former School Aide Accused of Exploiting Children Facing 10 New Charges

CNY Central
May 26, 2016

http://cnycentral.com/news/local/former-school-aide-accused-of-exploiting-children-facing-10-new-charges

[the indictment] https://www.scribd.com/doc/313915125/Oberst-indictment

The former elementary school aide accused of exploiting children is now facing additional charges after a grand jury returned a superseding indictment that adds ten new charges.

United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and FBI Resident Agent in Charge Andrew Vale say a 19-count superseding indictment returned by the grand jury replaces the indictment from March and adds ten charges. Seven of those charges are for sexual exploitation of a minor, while the other three allege additional conduct involving the distribution of child pornography. The superseding indictment alleges no new victims from the previous indictment.

In March an undercover federal investigator out of the Metropolitan Police Department - Federal Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Task Force began communicating on the Kik app with a user later identified as Jason Kopp. A federal criminal complaint stated, in an exchange of texts Kopp shared numerous images of an infant child "which depict the lewd and lascivious exhibition of her genitals." Other images show Kopp "engaged in acts of sexual abuse of the child."

During the investigation, the criminal complaint stated agents became aware of Emily Oberst as the person who was supplying the images of the child. During an interview with investigators, Oberst admitted she has taken "a total of 45-50 sexually explicit images of the infant and sent them to 'Jason', and that all sexually explicit images she has sent to 'Jason' depict the same infant female child, who is currently 16 months old."

The federal criminal complaint showed investigators uncovered physical evidence connecting Oberst to the images. They also indicate the discovery of forensic evidence on Kopp's cell phone.

If convicted, Oberst faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years for each of the counts charging Conspiracy to Sexually Exploit Children and Sexual Exploitation of a Child. She also faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years, and a maximum of 20 years on each count charging her with Distribution of Child Pornography. Sentences of imprisonment may be concurrent or consecutive at the discretion of the Court.

Kopp is not named in the superseding indictment because he pled guilty earlier this month to all 22 counts in the original indictment. His sentencing is scheduled for September 14, 2016.