Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

BUFFALO, NY—John C. Scott, 53, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Chief Judge William M. Skretny, to two felony charges of possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter of the Western District of New York announced today. For each count, possessing child pornography carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who handled the case, stated that on October 20, 2006, the defendant possessed child pornography on four CD-Roms and 15 floppy disks, all of which were found in a shed at the defendant’s residence. The disks contained approximately 555 image files and 29 movie files of child pornography. On October 20, 2006, the defendant was arrested by the Buffalo Police Department (BPD) for the sexual abuse of two minor children. The defendant was subsequently convicted and sentenced to one-and-a-half to three years in prison. While the defendant was incarcerated, his former residence was sold. The new owner of the property discovered CDs and floppy disks in a storage shed that appeared to contain child pornography. BPD detective Antonio Borrelli obtained the evidence and determined that federal child pornography statutes may have been violated. Detective Borrelli brought the evidence to Detective Joe Ahmed, a BPD Detective assigned the Buffalo Cyber Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Buffalo.

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 detectives of the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Acting Commissioner Daniel Derenda. Additional assistance was provided by the Western New York Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, which conducted the forensic analysis of the computer disks.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 23, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. in Buffalo, N.Y., in front of U.S. District Chief Judge William M. Skretny.