OGDENSBURG — A retired Ogdensburg police officer pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually exploiting a child, according to Acting United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith.

Harry McCarthy, 57, Ogdensburg, admitted that in 2013 and 2014, he used a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing images of that conduct. At the time of his crime, McCarthy was an officer at the Ogdensburg Police Department.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 18, 2018 in Syracuse before Chief United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby. McCarthy pled guilty as part of an agreement that, if accepted by Suddaby, would require him to serve 15 years in prison, to be followed by a lifetime term of supervised release. McCarthy would also be required to register as a sex offender.

McCarthy’s original arrest in 2016 was the result of an investigation conducted by the New York State Police Computer Crimes Unit and Troop B, in cooperation with the City of Ogdensburg Police Department.

Court documents say the image was uploaded using the Google Gmail service. Google apparently notified the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children of the child porn image and the addresses that were used to access the email account.

An order of protection was also issued for McCarthy's girlfriend and her children, which he allegedly violated later.

McCarthy also retired from the Ogdensburg Police Department during his time in custody. His annual salary was $73,111 not including benefits, and a felony conviction would not impact his pension, according to Ogdensburg’s City Manager Sarah Purdy.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the New York State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Kopita and Geoffrey Brown.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorneys’ 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.