Buffalo Man Charged with Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Jeremy Otrosinka, 31, of Buffalo, N.Y., has been charged by criminal complaint with receipt and distribution of child pornography. The charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, a maximum penalty of 20 years, and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward H. White, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant was arrested on October 18, 2011. Otrosinka admitted to law enforcement that he had been downloading child pornography from the Internet using the Limewire file-sharing network. Following an initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy, the defendant was released and will remain on home detention and electronic monitoring.

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 criminal complaint is 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 Christopher M. Piehota.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.