New York City Man Sentenced To 11 Years In Federal Prison For Distributing Child Sex Abuse Images Over The Internet

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza has sentenced Andre Dwayne Blagrove (35, New York City) to 11 years in federal prison for distribution of child pornography. Blagrove was also ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release and register as a sex offender.

Blagrove had pleaded guilty on June 14, 2021.

According to court documents, in June 2019, an FBI agent who was acting in an undercover capacity encountered Blagrove in an internet chat room. The undercover agent was posing as a father of two minor children, whom he purportedly sexually abused. Blagrove expressed great interest in the undercover agent’s sexual abuse of his children, and asked whether he (Blagrove) could join in.  Blagrove also described the sexual acts he wanted to perform on one of the children and requested that the agent take and send naked pictures of his daughters for Blagrove’s sexual gratification. Blagrove also used the internet to send the agent two videos that depicted the sexual exploitation of children.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily C. L. Chang.

This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.