Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing Child Pornography

A 46-year-old Buffalo man pleaded guilty today in federal court to distributing child pornography. Appearing before United States District Court Judge Joan Ericksen in Minneapolis, Jason Dale Gordon pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography. Gordon was indicted on August 20, 2009.

In his plea agreement, Gordon admitted sending pictures of a minor in a sexually explicit pose to an individual he thought was a 14-year-old boy in New Hampshire via a computer on August 9, 2008. However, the individual was an undercover law enforcement officer.

Gordon faces a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for his crime, with a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison. Judge Ericksen will determine his sentence at a future date. This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an affiliate agency of the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Buffalo Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Newberry.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood (“PSC”), a national initiative to combat the growing epidemic of sexually exploiting children, particularly via the Internet. PSC was launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in May of 2006. Led by the Department’s Criminal Division, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, along with U.S. Attorney’s nationwide, PSC encourages federal, state, and local law enforcement partnerships and provides resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who abuse children while identifying and rescuing victims of that crime. In 2008, PSC was credited with 2,289 child-pornography indictments being filed in federal court nationwide, a 33-percent increase over 2006. For more information about PSC, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.