Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography

BUFFALO, NY—ANTHONY PASQUALE FANTI, JR., age 34, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty on May 20, 2009, before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr., to a one-count felony possession of child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter of the Western District of New York announced today. Possession of child pornography carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles B. Wydysh who handled the case, stated that Fanti used his computer to gain access to a person-to-person file-sharing site which traded child pornography. On January 26, 2007, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent, acting in an undercover capacity, made contact with Fanti who provided child pornography to the Special Agent. On February 16, 2007, Special Agents of the FBI executed a search warrant at the residence of the defendant in Buffalo, New York, and seized two computers and several computer disks. Subsequent examination of the computer and disks by the Western New York Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory disclosed the presence of 121 movie files and 46 image files of child pornography.

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 was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Laurie Bennett, Special Agent in Charge, and Officers of the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of H. McCarthy Gipson, Commissioner.

Sentencing will be scheduled in Buffalo, New York, in front of U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.