Salamanca Man Pleads Guilty to Production of Child Pornography

BUFFALO, NY—Shawn M. Snyder, 38, of Salamanca, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Chief Judge William M. Skretny, to five felony charges of production of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter of the Western District of New York announced today. Each production of child pornography charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment, a maximum penalty of 30 years' imprisonment, and a fine of $250,000, or both for each charge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who handled the case, stated that the charges involve the defendant coercing, enticing, using, and persuading five minor victims to engage in sexually explicit conduct so that he could take a picture of such conduct. The five minor children ranged in age from 6 to 8 years old and involved conduct dating back to January of 2004, but most of the conduct occurred between January of 2008 and April of 2009. As part of the conduct, the defendant admitted that he had sexual contact with two of the minor victims. The defendant took the images using a digital camera and 35 mm film.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The plea was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the direction of Special Agent-In-Charge James H. Robertson, and the Salamanca Police Department under the direction of Chief Troy Westfall. Additional assistance was provided by the Western New York Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, which conducted the forensic analysis of the defendant’s computer and digital camera.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 9, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. EST, in Buffalo, NY, in front of U.S. District Chief Judge William M. Skretny.