Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Brian Lee McGaughey, 47, of Tampa, Florida, formerly of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara, to a felony charge of receipt of child pornography. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum penalty of 40 years, a fine of $250,000 and a supervised release of not less than five years and up to life.

Assistant U.S. Marie P. Grisanti, who handled the case, stated that the defendant knowingly received on his cell phone images of child pornography of a 14-year-old minor. These images were sent by the minor victim residing in Florida to the defendant while he was in Western New York. While in Florida, McGaughey engaged in a sexual relationship with this minor for over one year. When McGaughey learned the police were looking for him, he left Florida and traveled to Buffalo. During his trip and after he arrived, McGaughey maintained electronic contact with the minor and it was during this time that he received the child pornography images on his cell phone. After approximately two weeks, McGaughey returned to Florida to pick up the minor victim and bring her back to Buffalo without her mother's consent. In an attempt to evade authorities, he purchased an airline ticket for the minor to travel to Puerto Rico where McGaughey planned to meet her at a later date. The victim was located at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport as a result of an Amber Alert. The defendant has a prior conviction in New York State for the sexual abuse of a minor.

"My office will not tolerate the exploitation of children on any level and as this case shows, we will track alleged offenders outside of the area if necessary to bring them to justice," said U.S. Attorney Hochul.

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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The plea was the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, under the direction of Chief George Gast; special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-In-Charge James H. Robertson, and the Tampa Police Department, under the direction of Chief Jane Castor.

Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 8, 2010 at 12:30 p.m. in Buffalo, New York, in front of Judge Arcara.