Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Kevin Baron, 42, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara to possession of child pornography. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who is handling the case, stated that on March 9, 2012, a search warrant was executed at the defendant’s residence. A forensic analysis of Baron’s computer and DVD disks revealed in excess of 600 images of child pornography. The analysis also revealed that a privacy and cleaning software had been installed and was run on February 18, 2012 and February 28, 2012. Some of the images contained depictions of violence.

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 plea 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, along with officers of the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief David Zack. Additional assistance was provided by the Western New York Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, which conducted the forensic analysis of the computer.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 24, 2013, at 12:30 p.m. before Judge Arcara.