North Tonawanda Man Pleads Guilty To Child Pornography Charge

CONTACT:  Barbara Burns
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BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Scott Myers, 26 of North Tonawanda, NY, pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography, before Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of 20 years and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who is handling the case, stated that in November 2013, the defendant met a 14-year-old female (Victim), on an internet dating site and the two eventually began communicating via text messaging on Kik and Skype. The communications, which were sexually explicit in nature, included Myers requesting sexually explicit phots from the Victim which she sent and he stored on a thumb drive. A subsequent analysis of the thumb drive revealed approximately nine images of child pornography depicting the Victim. Myers was aware that the Victim was a minor at the time she sent the sexually explicit images. The defendant also engaged in online sexual communications with another minor, a 13-year-old female using Kik and text messages.

In addition to the thumb drive, the defendant also possessed other electronic media, which contained child pornography, including a cellular telephone, two laptop computers, and a tablet.

The plea is the result of an investigation by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at the direction of Kevin P. Lyons, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Zack, and the Blasdell Police Department, under the direction of Lieutenant Joseph Gramaglia.          
       
Sentencing is scheduled for May 23, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. before Judge Skretny.