Pittsburgh Man Sentenced to 16 Years for Violating Child Sexual Exploitation Laws

PITTSBURGH - A former resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 16 years’ incarceration followed by 10 years’ supervised release on his conviction of one count of production and attempted production of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today.

Senior United States District Judge Arthur J. Schwab imposed the sentence on Anthony Cerasi, age 47.

According to information previously presented to the court, on April 13, 2021, Cerasi employed and used a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a video recording of such conduct.

Assistant United States Attorney Heidi M. Grogan prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

United States Attorney Chung commended the FBI Pittsburgh Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Cerasi.

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.justice.gov/psc.