Rochester Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Anthony Davis, 43, of Rochester, New York, pleaded guilty before Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. to production of child pornography. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, a maximum of 30 years, and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who is handling the case, stated that in July 2012, City of Rochester Police received a report of from an individual of a sexually explicit video of a seven-year old minor on a smart phone belonging to the defendant. The individual identified the minor victim and Davis’ voice from the video. The defendant admitted during the plea proceeding to using the minor to produce a sexually explicit image with his smart phone.

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.justice.gov/psc.

The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Crime Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher Piehota, the City of Rochester Police Department under the direction of Chief James Sheppard and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, under the direction of Sandra Doorley.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 27, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Geraci.