Dunkirk Man Pleads Guilty to Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography

         BUFFALO, N.Y.-- U.S. Attorney Williams J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Talbert Milton Mount, 52, of Dunkirk, N.Y., pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography before U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara in Buffalo. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 120 years in prison.

            Assistant U.S. Attorney Fauzia K. Mattingly, who is handling the case, stated that on June 14, 2012, a search warrant was executed at the defendant's residence. Agents found approximately 975 videos and over 12,770 images of child pornography on various computers and hard drives belonging to Mount. Some of the images depicted infants and toddlers. The defendant obtained and traded videos and images of child pornography over the internet. Mount was previously convicted of Corruption of a Minor of a Sexual Nature in Pennsylvania in 2010.

            This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

            The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of James C. Spero, Special Agent in Charge.