AMHERST — An Amherst man pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston on Wednesday to distribution and possession of child sexual abuse material, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Massachusetts.

Bradley James Driscoll, 26, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 13 after pleading guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Driscoll was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2023. The sentencing was scheduled by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni.

The investigation determined that on or about Aug. 29, 2022, Driscoll knowingly distributed and possessed child sexual abuse material, in the form of videos, discovered after he engaged in a Kik online chat conversation with an undercover agent, and expressed interest in obtaining these materials.

Driscoll also distributed a link to the undercover agent which contained approximately 345 child sexual abuse material files depicting minor children, some as young as a year old, being sexually penetrated by adult males.

Two Apple iPhones and an Apple MacBook were confiscated from Driscoll’s home on Salem Place in February 2023, according to the indictment.

The indictment followed Driscoll telling federal agents in September 2023 that he was the owner of the Kik username and had located the link containing the sexually explicit files through other Kik messenger chat groups. He also acknowledged asking the undercover agent to send him sexual material related to child pornography and acknowledged that the Mega link he shared contained sexual materials involving young children.

The distribution charge provides for a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in prison, supervised release of no less than five years and a maximum of life and a $250,000 fine.

The possession charge provides for up to 20 years in prison, a mandatory minimum of five years and up to life of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the United States sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

Following the indictment, Driscoll, who graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 2020 and had worked in the university’s neuroscience laboratory, was released on a series of conditions, including electronic monitoring with a curfew, having no contact with minors under the age of 17, no unlawful use of the internet, to remain enrolled in an academic program or to have full-time employment, to surrender his passport and have restricted travel outside the district, to remain law-abiding and to have no excessive use of alcohol.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of the Major Crimes Unit.

The announcement about Driscoll’s guilty plea was made by U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations; and Amherst Police Chief Gabriel Ting.