Tonawanda Man Indicted On Charges Of Production And Possession Of Child Pornography

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:           (716) 843-5817
FAX:                 (716) 551-3051

Buffalo, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a six count indictment charging Jason M. Smith, 34, of Tonawanda, NY, with production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott S. Allen, Jr., who is handling the case, stated that according to a complaint filed in September 2014, on April 11, 2014, the Lancaster Police Department executed a search warrant at Smith’s residence on Byron Avenue in Tonawanda. During the search, officers seized external hard drives. Subsequent examination by the Western New York Regional Forensic Laboratory determined that the defendant was producing child pornography at his residence. Some of the images depicted Smith engaged in sexual contact with what appears to be a child under the age of 10.

Investigation also determined that the defendant possessed other items of child pornography.

Smith is scheduled to be arraigned on January 12, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. before U.S Magistrate Judge Jerimiah J. McCarthy. The defendant has been in custody since his arrest in September 2014.

The indictment is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Lancaster Police Department, under the direction of Chief Gerald J. Gill, Jr., and the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Zack.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.