Albany Man Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Sexual Exploitation Of Children

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JOHNNY ROMAN was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for sexual exploitation of children and conspiring to sexually exploit children, including while incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.  On May 23, 2023, ROMAN pled guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of children and two counts of conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child before U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken, who imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Johnny Roman used multiple fake online personas to convince and, in some cases, threaten young women to create and send him heinous videos in which the women performed oral sex on minors, many of them infants and toddlers.  Once he was arrested and detained for that conduct, he continued his disturbing scheme from jail using contraband cellphones.  This lengthy prison sentence holds Roman accountable for his horrific crimes and the extraordinary harm and trauma he caused to many minor victims and their families.” 

According to the Indictment, court documents, and based on statements made in open court:

Since at least 2020, ROMAN used multiple fake online personas to contact young women about the prospect of a “job” sexting with an older man on encrypted messaging applications and to manipulate the women into creating disturbing pornographic videos in which they performed oral sex on minors, many of them infants or toddlers.  ROMAN communicated with at least 3,000 different women on one user account alone.  Through that broad outreach, at least eight individuals performed oral sex on minor victims based on ROMAN’s requests or threats.  At least 11 minor victims — ranging from 16 years old to four months old — were victims of ROMAN’s criminal conduct, which resulted in the creation of over 50 videos in which women performed oral sex on minors.

On December 22, 2020, ROMAN was arrested on the instant charges.  While detained, ROMAN continued to induce women to film themselves performing oral sex on minors using at least three contraband cellphones.

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In addition to his prison term, ROMAN, 37, of Albany, New York, was sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of Homeland Security Investigations and the New York City Police Department.  

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca T. Dell is in charge of the prosecution.