Judge Sentences Pittsburgh Man to Prison for Possessing Child Pornography

PITTSBURGH—A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was sentenced in federal court for violating federal child sexual exploitation laws, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

Jerrold Brassart, 60, was sentenced by United States District Judge David Stewart Cercone to serve 18 months in prison followed by six years of supervised release for possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct in 2011.

Assistant United States Attorney Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the successful investigation leading to the conviction and sentence in this case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”