Man Sentenced in Child Pornography Case

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Jason David Willis, 39 of Gasport, New York, who was convicted of transportation of child pornography, was sentenced to 11 years in prison by Chief U.S. District Court Judge William M. Skretny.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles B. Wydysh, who handled the case, stated that the defendant was convicted following an investigation by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and investigators with the New York State Police who executed a search warrant of his computer. An examination by the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory uncovered numerous child pornography images and files, which Willis traded over the Internet.

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 the U.S. 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The sentence 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 Robertson, and the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Christopher Cummings.