An Augusta man pleaded guilty Tuesday in a federal court in Bangor to distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material, following a tip from an online anonymous chat platform.
Federal law enforcement, alongside the Augusta Police Department, began investigating 35-year-old Nathaniel Gagne of Augusta in April 2023, after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit indicated that Gagne had uploaded child sexual abuse material to Omegle, according to court records.
Omegle is an online anonymous chat site where users are randomly matched and can communicate by text or video.
The file reported by Omegle to law enforcement contained four images of a three- to four-year-old child being sexually abused, prosecutors said.
During a search of his Augusta home, Gagne admitted to investigators that he had viewed child sexual abuse material and shared it on Omegle.
Authorities seized two cell phones and an SD card during the investigation, recovering hundreds of images and videos.
For the charge of distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material, Gagne faces from five to 20 years in federal prison, a maximum fine of up to $250,000 and from five years to life of supervised release.
