Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

BUFFALO—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Webster Tilton, IV, 30, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to possession of child pornography. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of 250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gretchen L. Wylegala, who handled the case, stated that the defendant was found in possession of 28 images of child pornography and 13 child pornography video files following an Internet investigation by the FBI.

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 is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Innocent Images National Initiative Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Piehota.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 27, 2012, at 12:30 p.m. EST, in Buffalo, N.Y., before Judge Arcara.