Man Sentenced for Possession of Millions of Images of Child Pornography

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Robert J. Terhaar, II, 37, of Lockport, New York, who was convicted of two counts of possession of child pornography, was sentenced to 17 years in prison and 10 years’ supervised release by Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, who handled the case, stated that the defendant possessed approximately two million images of child pornography on his computers at his residence in Lockport, New York. Some of the children shown in the images were newborn babies and some of the images depicted force and violence. Terhaar admitted to federal agents that he has had fantasies about young boys and expressed concerns about his ability to control his sexual urges. The defendant also distributed images of child pornography using various programs, including Gigatribe.

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 sentencing is the culmination of a joint investigation on the part of the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department under the direction of Sheriff James Voutour; the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn; special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Christopher M. Piehota, Special Agent in Charge; the New York State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force; and the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office, under the direction of Michael Violante, Niagara County District Attorney.