Ohio Man Charged with Child Pornography Offenses

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, today announced that a federal grand jury in Hartford has returned an indictment charging ROBERT DUDUKOVICH, 24, of Wakeman, Ohio, with five counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of aiding and abetting the transportation of child pornography.

The indictment was returned on August 30, 2018, and DUDUKOVICH was arrested yesterday in Berlin Heights, Ohio.  He appeared in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, in Toledo, and was ordered detained pending his removal to the District of Connecticut.

As alleged in the indictment, between July 10, 2017 and October 4, 2017, DUDUKOVICH managed a chat group on “Kik,” a smartphone messaging application, that provided a forum for group members to communicate about their sexual interest in young boys and to share and trade child pornography primarily depicting young boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  DUDUKOVICH shared with the group members, including an individual in Connecticut, images and videos of child pornography.  The child pornography included videos of a minor engaged in sexual acts with another minor, and a video of a minor engaged in a sexual act with an adult.  DUDUKOVICH also shared with the group members a link to his Dropbox account, which contained additional images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. 

If convicted, DUDUKOVICH faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years on each count.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven.

U.S. Attorney Durham stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.

U.S. Attorney Durham thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio for their assistance in this matter.

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.