Man Sentenced to Five Years for Possessing Child Pornography

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Christopher Marandola , 45, formerly of Lancaster, New York, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, to 60 months in prison based upon the defendant’s prior plea of guilty to the felony charge of possessing child pornography.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, who handled the case, stated that Lancaster Police conducted a search of the defendant’s residence and seized various electronic equipment, including two computers, after they received information that the defendant was possessing child pornography. A search of the computers revealed the defendant had stored various movie and image files of child pornography.

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 the detectives from the Lancaster Police Department and special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.