GUILDERLAND — John H. Ruthosky Jr. of Guilderland was arrested by State Police on Wednesday, charged with four felonies related to child pornography and a misdemeanor involving sexual conduct with a dog.

State Police have so far determined that two local children were victims, according to spokeswoman Trooper Kerra M. Burns.

“He was known to his victims,” she told The Enterprise.

Burns said she could not release information on the victims’ ages, gender, or where they lived.

“These are the two we are aware of, that he is charged with,” said Burns. “We are asking people if they have any more information or if they had contact with this person.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the New York State Police at 518-477-9333. 

The investigation started with a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which frequently works with a State Police-wide Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Burns said.

The center describes itself as a not-for-profit clearinghouse and reporting center for issues related to prevention of and recovery from child victimization.

“NCMEC will get information from social-media users, anonymous tips, things like that and provide us with the cyber tip to follow up on,” said Burns.

The investigators, Burns said, “executed search warrants in relation to this case and, as part of the search warrant, they can do a manual preview, which basically means they look through the phone, just like you would look through your cell phone, and then they can do a forensic download. That’s all under the search warrant.”

Investigators, she said, have not yet determined how widespread the images are. “They’re just not there yet,” she said. “We just don’t have a clear answer on how many times it was shared.”

She also said, “With electronic-based investigations, sometimes it takes time to pull all the information.”

Burns explained each of Rothosky’s four felony charges to The Enterprise:

— Predatory sexual assault against a child

“Predatory sexual assault is being involved with sexual conduct of a child … We have a live victim,” said Burns;

— Use of a child in a sexual performance

“A second victim was used in some of the sexually explicit content that he had,” Burns said;

— Possession of a sexual performance by a child

“It’s having it, the fact that he had it,” said Burns, explaining possession of sexual performance. “It’s one thing to have the child pronography, say you have those photos on your phone, that would be possessing it ….”;

— Promoting a sexual performance by a child 

“But then, once you share those with somebody else, like in this example via social media, that is the promoting,” said Burns.

Ruthosky was also charged with engaging in sexual conduct with a dog, a misdemeanor.

“The dog, they found evidence of it on some of the items that were taken during the search warrant … There were images ….,” said Burns.

 Ruthosky was arraigned in Guilderland Town Court on Oct. 20, the day he was arrested, and remanded to Albany County’s jail without bail. 

He could not be reached for comment.

His LinkedIn profile says he works as a network and systems specialist at Everi Holdings Inc. in Colonie.

Ruthosky described himself this way: “Experienced Network Specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the gambling & casinos industry. Skilled in Operations Management, Microsoft Word, and Software Installation. Strong information technology professional with a Associate’s degree focused in Alternative Energy Technology from Schenectady County Community College.”

In posts, he says things like: “This was a fun night in class once we established communication between the PLC and the RS logicx software. Troubleshooting is a blast!!”