Vernon Man Sentenced for Possessing Child Sexual Abuse Materials

Burlington, Vermont – The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Glen Buehler, 68, of Vernon, Vermont, was sentenced yesterday to a 30-month term of imprisonment, following his guilty plea to possessing child pornography, also referred to as child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Chief United States District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford also ordered Buehler to serve a 15-year term of supervised release following his release from prison, and pay $33,000 in restitution to victims of his offense.

According to court records, on February 2, 2023, a Portsmouth, New Hampshire police detective was conducting an online investigation of the BitTorrent network, looking for individuals sharing CSAM. A BitTorrent user was identified as sharing likely CSAM files, and a download of some of those files occurred on the evening of February 2, 2023. After the source of the files was determined to likely be in Vermont, the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force coordinated with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Derby, Vermont. HSI’s investigation revealed the source of the files downloaded from BitTorrent to likely be Buhler’s residence in Vernon, Vermont. A federal search warrant was executed on April 3, 2023, resulting in the seizure of a number of Buehler’s electronic devices. A forensic examination of the devices revealed over 4,000 video and image files of CSAM. During an interview, Buehler admitted to agents that he had downloaded the materials, and also admitted he knew that others could obtain the materials from his devices using peer-to-peer software.

After Buehler appeared in federal court on charges of possessing CSAM, he was ordered released on pretrial conditions that included monitoring of his electronic devices. That monitoring revealed that Buehler continued to access CSAM while on pretrial release. A second federal search warrant was executed at Buehler’s residence on June 6, 2023, resulting in the seizure of additional electronic devices that were determined to contain CSAM. Buehler was thereafter remanded to custody for violating his conditions of release.

United States Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest commended the investigatory efforts of agents of Homeland Security Investigations, the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Police Department, the New Hampshire ICAC, the Vermont ICAC, and the detectives of the Office of the Vermont Attorney General’s Criminal Division. He also thanked the Vermont State Police and the Brattleboro Police Department for their assistance.

The prosecutor is Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt. Buehler is represented by the Assistant Federal Public Defender Mary Nerino.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Department’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 Justice.gov/PSC.