Rochester Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Jonathan Lopez-Polo, 25, of Rochester, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer to possession of child pornography. The charge is punishable by a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig R. Gestring, who handled the case, stated that the defendant possessed more than 600 images of child pornography on digital media he owned, including a computer and removable media. The images included prepubescent children, as well as depictions of violence against 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 special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian P. Boetig and Investigators from the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Shephard.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 19, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. before Judge Larimer.