Elmira Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge

   ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Chad Dolaway, 23, of Pine City, N.Y., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr., to receipt of child pornography. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

     Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa J. Miller, who handled the case, stated that the defendant came to the attention of law enforcement in 2011 when undercover agents from both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations downloaded child pornography from Dolaway through a peer to peer file sharing network. The defendant received child pornography and maintaining the images on a computer that he owned. Some of the images portrayed prepubescent children and children engaged in violent conduct.

     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, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero and the Chemung County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Christopher Moss.