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Press Release

Albany Man Indicted for Distributing Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Thomas Rosario, age 35, of Albany, was arraigned on August 26 on an indictment charging him with distributing child pornography through the Kik phone messaging application.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The indictment alleges that in May 2017, Rosario – using the Kik name “tommynewtothis” – shared child pornography by providing others with links to Dropbox.com remote storage accounts that contained child pornography.  On August 26, 2019, Rosario appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Christian F. Hummel and was released under pretrial supervision conditions.

The charges in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

If convicted, Rosario faces at least 5 years and up to 20 years in prison, and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of at least 5 years and up to life.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.  Rosario would also have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

This case is being investigated by the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.

This case is prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.

Updated September 4, 2019

Topic
Project Safe Childhood