Wisconsin Man Charged with Production of Child Pornography

BUFFALO—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that David Whitworth, 40, of Monroe, Wisconsin, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with production and receipt of child pornography. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maura K. O’Donnell, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, the defendant posed as a modeling agent online to induce minors in the Western District of New York and elsewhere to produce pornographic images of themselves, which they then forwarded to Whitworth via 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 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 charges are 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; Officers from the Lancaster Police Department, under the direction of Chief Gerald J. Gill, Jr.; and Officers from the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Zack.

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.