Rochester Man Sentenced For Possession Of Child Pornography

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051

ROCHESTER, N.Y.—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Pedro Cruz, 40, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of possession of child pornography, was sentenced to 97 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci.  

Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa M. Marangola, who handled the case, stated that the investigation began when law enforcement officers discovered the downloading of child pornography related to a website and a particular user name. The investigation led to the execution of a search warrant at Cruz’s residence. Forensic previews of some computer-related items seized from the defendant’s residence revealed thousands of images of child pornography on a laptop computer, thousands of images of child pornography on a desktop computer, over 30,000 images of child pornography on an external hard drive, and over 20,000 images of child pornography on various CDs and DVDs. 

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Cohen. The task force consists of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the Rochester Police Department, the Greece Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations.