Clarks Summit Man Charged with Producing Child Pornography and Online Enticement of a Minor

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Clarks Summit man was indicted today by a federal grand jury in Scranton on charges of producing child pornography and online enticement of a minor.

According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, the grand jury alleges that Taylor Bzdyr, age 20, used a computer and a cell phone to persuade a 13-year-old female to engage in sexual acts which were transmitted live via Skype. The indictment alleges that Bzdry engaged in such conduct between October 2012 and March 5, 2014.

The charges stem from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Border Patrol Agents in California, and the New Westminster Police Department in British Columbia, Canada. If convicted, Bzdyr faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if he is convicted of the child pornography charge; and faces a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence and a possible life sentence if he is convicted of online enticement of a minor.

This case was 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.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.

Indictments and criminal informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

A sentence following a finding of guilty is imposed by the judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.