New Haven Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Collecting and Distributing Child Pornography
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 09, 2013 |
David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Michael Martarano, 34, of New Haven, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for trading child pornography on the Internet.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between June 2007 and April 2009, Martarano traded and bartered child pornography with other individuals over the Internet through the use of an online instant messaging program and later via a peer-to-peer filing sharing program.
On July 2, 2009, law enforcement agents executed a federal search warrant at Martarano’s residence and seized a desktop computer, a laptop computer, and an external hard drive. Subsequent forensic examination of the seized items revealed approximately 5,100 images and videos of child pornography.
Martarano was arrested on August 3, 2010. On December 11, 2012, he pleaded guilty to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography. He is currently detained.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, and the New Haven Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Anastasia E. King and Neeraj N. Patel.
The Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which is housed at the main FBI office in New Haven, investigates crimes against children occurring over the Internet and provides computer forensic review services for participating agencies. For more information about the task force, or to report child exploitation crimes, please contact the FBI at 203-777-6311.
This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.