Former Cooperstown Gym Teacher Sentenced

Justin Hobbie, age 42, of Springfield Center, New York, was sentenced Wednesday to 200 months in prison for persuading three girls between the ages of 14 and 17 to engage in sexual activity and transmit live depictions of that activity to him.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Kevin Kelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Hobbie was a gym and health teacher in Cooperstown, New York. In pleading guilty, he admitted that from 2015 to 2018, he persuaded three girls 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.

“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 United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith. “Hobbie has now been held accountable for egregiously exploiting those children over a three year period.”

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. Today's sentencing hopefully begins the healing process and marks a final chapter in a painful period for those affected.”

To read the full statement issued by the United States Attorney's Office of the Northern District of New York CLICK HERE