Hornell Man Sentenced on Child Pornography Charges
U.S. Attorney’s Office November 28, 2012 |
ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Taber Wells, 26, of Hornell, New York, who was convicted of receiving, distributing, and possessing child pornography, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 35 years’ supervised release by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa J. Miller, who handled the case, stated that the defendant downloaded and possessed images of child pornography between September 2009 and June 2010. The child pornography included in excess of 600 images and videos, some of which depicted prepubescent children under the age of 12.
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.justice.gov/psc.
The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Piehota.