Rochester Man Charged with Conspiring to Produce Child Pornography

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Shahmell Robinson, 21, of Rochester, N.Y., was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with producing child pornography and conspiring with others to produce child pornography. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum of 30 years, a fine of $250,000 or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa J. Miller, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, the defendant raped a female child under the age of 16, while another individual filmed the incident. The conduct occurred at a residence in Greece on August 8, 2014. The videos came to the attention of law enforcement when another individual posted them on Facebook.com.

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 criminal complaint is the culmination of an investigation on the part of members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Task Force, along with Task Force officers from the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael Ciminelli and members of the Greece Police Department, under the direction of Chief Patrick Phelan.

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.