Rochester Man Pleads Guilty To Child Pornography Charges

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051
 
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Brendon Allan Young, 35, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty to production, distribution and possession of child pornography before Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci. The combined charges carry a maximum penalty of 100 years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Rossi, who is handling the case, stated that between 2012 and 2017, Young sexually abused a minor female, beginning when the child was only four or five years old. By the time the victim turned nine years old, the defendant produced child pornography depicting the victim, which he uploaded and traded via the internet. The victim’s images were ultimately found in the United Kingdom when British authorities arrested a perpetrator in that country during a child pornography sting. Using information found on the British suspect’s computer, British authorities contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, D.C., which was relayed the information to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Buffalo, NY. Within days, using metadata associated with the images, HSI Agents located the victim in Rochester, NY.

At the same time, the Rochester Police Department and Monroe County Child Protective Services had begun an investigation after the victim made a disclosure of sexual abuse to a friend’s mother. HSI Agents, the Rochester Police Department, and Child Protectives engaged in a joint investigation that led to Young’s arrest by both state and federal authorities. The defendant has since been sentenced to 30 years in State Court. Federal sentencing is scheduled for February 28, 2018, before Judge Geraci.

Today’s sentencing is the result of an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly; the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael Ciminelli; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Adam S. Cohen; Monroe County Child Protective Services, the Bivona Child Advocacy Center, and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, under the direction of Sandra Doorley.