A Waverly man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after admitting he sexually exploited a 10-year-old girl and uploaded an explicit image to a pornography website where other users could download it. Tristan Kovacs pleaded guilty in June to sexual exploitation of a child and transportation of child pornography, according to prosecutors.
WBNG reported that federal prosecutors said that in April 2025, Kovacs created an explicit image involving himself and the 10-year-old girl, then posted it online where it could be accessed and downloaded by others. The station reported that Kovacs will spend 15 years in prison followed by 15 years under supervision. The U.S. Department of Justice, Northern District of New York, separately confirmed the 15-year prison sentence in its own announcement.
The Justice Department listed Kovacs as 22 in its plea announcement and 23 in its sentencing announcement; WBNG and MyTwinTiers reported him as 22, while WENY News reported him as 23 in its sentencing story. WENY News reported that Kovacs was arrested following an investigation involving the FBI, New York State Police, Waverly Police and the Broome County Sheriff's Office.
Multiple Agencies Built the Case
The investigation that led to Kovacs's arrest was handled by the FBI's Albany Division Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force along with New York State Police, with assistance from Waverly Police and the Broome County Sheriff's Office, the same report notes. The case moved from arrest to a guilty plea in June, when Kovacs admitted to photographing himself while sexually exploiting the child and then uploading the photo to a pornographic website.
Federal prosecutors have laid out the legal stakes involved in the case. According to the FBI's Albany Field Office, the sexual exploitation charge carried a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison, while the transportation of child pornography charge carried a five-year mandatory minimum. Kovacs received the 15-year minimum on the exploitation count. He will also be required to register as a sex offender once released, and he faces 15 years of supervised release after his prison term ends.
A Pattern Seen in Federal Sentencing Data
Kovacs's case fits a pattern documented in federal sentencing statistics. The U.S. Sentencing Commission has reported that, among individuals convicted of trafficking child pornography, 14% had a prior sexual abuse or child pornography conviction and were subject to a 15-year mandatory minimum, with an average sentence of 241 months, while the remaining 86% faced a five-year mandatory minimum and averaged 141 months. The commission has also found that the vast majority of fiscal year 2019 child pornography production offenders, 80.9%, were sentenced for an offense that involved sexual contact of a minor, underscoring how often these cases involve direct contact rather than possession alone.
