Frewsburg Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

BUFFALO, NY—Raymond Mason, 37, of Frewsburg, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, to felony charges of possession of child pornography and attempted receipt of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter of the Western District of New York announced today. Possession of child pornography carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or both, and attempted receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, who handled the case, stated that the defendant, Raymond Mason, possessed Polaroid photographs of a 6-year-old child that contained images of child pornography, and ordered child pornography videos through the mails. As part of the plea, Mason admitted that he took the Polaroid photos of the young child.

Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse 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 Postal Inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Robert Bethel, Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division; the Ellicott Police Department, under the direction of William Ohnmeiss, Jr., Chief of Police; the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the direction of James H. Robertson, Special Agent in Charge; and the Western New York Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 20, 2010, at 12:30 p.m. EST, in Buffalo, N.Y., in front of U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.