Teacher Pretended To Be Teen Boy

Hobbie Sentenced

To 16 1/2 Years For

Exploiting 3 Girls

COOPERSTOWN – Former Cooperstown gym teacher Justin Hobbie, 42, has been sentenced to 200 months in prison for posing as a teen boy on social media to persuade three teenage girls to send him sexually explicit videos of themselves, according to a release from United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Kevin Kelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

“While working as a teacher, Justin Hobbie preyed on teenage girls he met online by pretending to be a teenage boy and pressuring victims to make and send him sexually explicit video,” said Jaquith.  “Hobbie has now been held accountable for egregiously exploiting those children over a three-year period.”

In pleading guilty, Hobbie admitted that from 2015 to 2018, he persuaded three girls, ages 14-17, to engage in sexually explicit conduct and live-stream that conduct to him over the internet.  These sexually explicit acts and images were recorded by Hobbie so that he could look at them again.

He also admitted to using peer-to-peer file sharing software to amass a large collection of child pornography, including videos involving the sexual exploitation of toddlers.

HSI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Kelly stated: “Child exploitation is an egregious crime especially when children are victimized by a teacher, or anyone in a position of trust,” said Kelly. ” Today’s sentencing hopefully begins the healing process and marks a final chapter in a painful period for those affected.”

When Hobbie is released from prison, Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy has imposed a 15-year term of supervised release, as well as restitution in the amount of $9,999.99.   Hobbie will also be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

This case was investigated by HSI Albany with assistance from the New York State Police Computer Crimes Unit, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey J. L. Brown.