Man Pleads Guilty in Child Pornography Case

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Michael Clark, 31, of Canandaigua, New York, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography before United States District Judge David G. Larimer. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who is handling the case, stated that in February 2011, a search warrant was executed at Clark’s Chapel Street residence by members of the New York State Police Computer Crimes Unit. The search warrant occurred after an undercover investigator was able to download images of child pornography from an Internet Protocol address assigned to the Chapel Street location. Clark admitted to knowingly possessing child pornography and admitted to using filesharing software and having child pornography images available to be shared. Some of the images possessed by the defendant depicted prepubescent children.

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 is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Task Force, which includes the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn, and special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Christopher M. Piehota, Special Agent in Charge, the New York State Police Computer Crimes Unit under the direction of Captain Frank Pace, and Tom Moran, Livingston County District Attorney.

Sentencing has been scheduled for November 29, 2011 at 10 a.m. before Judge Larimer.