Monroe County Man Pleads Guilty To Producing Child Pornography

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 45-year-old Tobyhanna man pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick in Scranton, to producing child pornography.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Robert Ferraro, admitted to using and persuading a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing images of such conduct. Ferraro admitted to committing the crime between August 2013 and January 2015.

Ferraro was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2015, as a result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard P. Conaboy will impose sentence in the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.

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."

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 guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The maximum penalty under federal law is 30 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

# # #