GUILDERLAND — Blake Spears, 38, of 15 Harmony Hill Road in Guilderland, was indicted on Aug. 29 on charges of sexually exploiting a child, and child pornography distribution and possession.

United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, special agent in charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced the indictment on Monday.

The indictment alleges that Spears sexually exploited a child on Dec. 1, 2018, distributed child pornography on Dec. 26, 2018, and possessed child pornography on Feb. 15, 2019.

The Grand Jury charged that Spears “did employ, use, persuade, induce, entice and coerce” a child born in 2008 — who would have been 9 or 10 at the time of the Dec. 1, 2018, incident — “to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions,” according to papers from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

The other counts are two for possession of child pornography and one for distribution of child pornography. The court papers also said that Spears was to forfeit his Samsung phone and his portable USB [Universal Serial Bus] drive.

A previously filed criminal complaint alleges that Spears used the Kik phone messaging application to distribute child pornography in December 2018. On Feb. 15, FBI agents found child pornography on both a USB drive in Spears’s residence and on Spears’s cell phone.

According to a criminal complaint signed by FBI Special Agent Andrew J. Zubik, Spears used Kik Messenger — an instant-messaging application known for preserving users’ anonymity, allowing them to register without providing a telephone number or real name.

Last December, Spears sent “numerous video files and pictures containing child pornography involving minor females” to other members of a Kik group, which is similar to a chat room, the complaint says.

Spears had the username “fist123456” and his account was registered under the first name “Bs” and the last name “Bs,” the complaint says; it was linked to an email address that included his surname. Kik Interactive Inc. provided the FBI with several IP addresses that username “fist123456” with screen name “Bs Bs” had used over the month of December 2018.

Zubik searched these IP addresses using a tool in the public domain and identified the service provider as Verizon, which provided the FBI with information from which Zubik could determine the 518 phone number assigned to Spears at his home, the complaint says.

A federal warrant was then secured to search Spears’s home, car, and electronic devices, which turned up a flash drive at his home containing images of adults performing sex acts on prepubescent children, male and female, according to the complaint. The complaint adds that Spears appeared to live alone.

The complaint lists four examples of files that were sent by the Kik usernam “fist123456” with the screen name “Bs Bs,” including scenes of adults engaging in sexual acts with naked females as young as 6 years old, and of young girls engaging in sexual acts together or alone.

On Feb. 15, officers stopped Spears to search his car, the complaint says. He was arrested at that time and spoke with Zubik, the complaint says.

Spears admitted that, “while drinking alcohol,” he had viewed child pornogoraphy on his phone, using Kik, and, “while drinking alcohol,” had sent it to other Kik users, the complaint says.

Spears, who has been in custody since Feb. 15, faces at least 15 years in prison if convicted of all charges, as well as a term of post-release supervision of at least five years and up to life.

This case is being investigated by the FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Colonie Police Department and New York State Police. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.