Rochester Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge

    Rochester, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Zachary S. Dressner, of Rochester, N.Y., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa, to possessing images of child pornography. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley E. Tyler, who is handling the case, stated that between July and November 2011, the defendant used his home computer to acquire and download images of children younger than 16 years of age. The images included the minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

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 the Federal Bureau of Investigation.