Three Ohio men indicted for child pornography crimes

Three Ohio men were charged in federal court with child pornography crimes, said Justin E. Herdman, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

Indicted are; Donald Neff, 51, of Kent; Brian Ake, 43, of Massillon, and Roland Wolfe, 52, of Cleveland. The cases are unrelated.

Neff was charged with receiving visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and possessing child pornography between November 2016 and June 2017.

Ake was charged with accessing with intent to view visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and destruction of property. He accessed with intent to view numerous digital files containing visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct between Oc. 24, 2014, through March 4, 2015. He also destroyed digital files on a cellular phone on Dec. 1, 2015, after a search for property by an FBI agent, according to the indictment.

Wolfe knowingly received numerous computer files which contained visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. This took place between Oct. 19, 2016, through Jan. 20, 2017. Wolfe also possessed a Dell laptop computer and five USB storage devices, each of which contained child pornography, according to the indictment.

If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant's role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

The Neff case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian McDonough following an investigation by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force.

The Ake cased is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Sullivan after an investigation by the FBI.

The Wolfe case is being prosecuted by Sullivan after an investigation by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority, the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Cleveland State University Police Department.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.