Hershey Man Charged with Receiving and Distributing Child Pornography

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced the filing of a one-count information charging William Charney, age 43, of Hershey, Pennsylvania, with receiving and distributing child pornography.

According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, in November 2009, AOL contacted the CyberTipline at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding nine child pornography images and an e-mail exchange between two individuals discussing the trade of images. The investigation identified Charney as one of those individuals.

A search was conducted of Charney’s residence along with a forensic examination of the computers and computer-related items seized during the search. Almost 700 image files and over 40 video files containing child pornography were located on the computer.

If convicted, Charney faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years.

This case was investigated by the Harrisburg office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Prosecution has been assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Daryl F. Bloom 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.

An indictment or information is not evidence of guilt but simply a description of the charge made by the grand jury and/or United States Attorney against a defendant. A charged defendant is presumed innocent until a jury returns a unanimous finding that the United States has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or until the defendant has pled guilty to the charges.