Former Rochester Resident Sentenced for Receipt of Child Pornography

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Gordon J. Plugh, 42, of Wayland, New York, formerly of Rochester, New York, who was convicted of receipt of child pornography, was sentenced to 60 months in prison and 30 years’ supervised release by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who handled the case, stated that in May 2005, the FBI received information that the website of the Great Plains Child Care Resource and Referral (GPCCRR) Center had been hacked and was being used as a repository site for the distribution of child pornography. GPCCRR Center provided web logs that showed the visitors to particular areas of the website. The investigation into Internet protocol addresses that had visited the hacked website led agents to interview the defendant at his residence in July 2005. Plugh voluntarily gave consent to the FBI agents to search two hard drives in his possession. Forensics performed on the hard drives revealed that they contained numerous images of child pornography.

The defendant obtained over 600 images of child pornography using the file sharing software KaZaa during the period between May 2003 and July 2005.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian P. Boetig.