A former Syracuse University graduate student was sentenced on child pornography charges on Thursday, according to Syracuse.com.

BingDong Gu, 23, was sentenced to two years in jail after he admitted to promoting and possessing images of child pornography, Syracuse.com reported. He will be deported to China after he serves his sentence, per the article.

Gu pleaded guilty to eight child pornography charges in November 2017 and was suspended from SU before he was able to graduate, per Syracuse.com.

Gu, who was formerly enrolled in SU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, came to the United States from China to attend college, according to Syracuse.com. He uploaded three illegal files in March 2017 and had five illegal videos in November 2017, prosecutor Michael Whalen said, per Syracuse.com.

All children in the videos were under the age of 10.

Gu will be turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he is held at Jamesville Correctional Facility for the two years, according to Syracuse.com.

Gu said that he felt “really sorry” in court for his actions, but County Court Judge Stephen Dougherty told Gu that he was not sympathetic to Gu’s situation, according to Syracuse.com.

 

Published on January 3, 2019 at 10:39 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326