Wayne County registered sex offender arrested on new child pornography charges

BUFFALO, NY-U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Geoffrey Hayes, 40, of Webster, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with possession, receipt, and distribution of child pornography, which carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum of 40 years, and a fine up to $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford, who is handling the case, stated that in November 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a child pornography CyberTip from Stelivo LLC, a company that runs several chatroom websites, including FreeChat. The tip reported that an individual, later identified as Hayes, uploaded approximately 11 image files of suspected child pornography to the website schat.freechatnow.com. Hayes is a registered sex offender who was convicted of Attempted Possession of a Sexual Performance by a Child in 2021.

In May 2024, the New York State Police executed search warrants at Hayes’ residence. During the search, investigators seized two cell phones. An analysis of one of the phones recovered approximately 83 image files of suspected child pornography, approximately 41 image files of suspected child exploitative and erotica images, and approximately 81 image files of age difficult explicit material. An analysis of the second phone recovered approximately 5,174 image files and approximately 1,901 video files of suspected child pornography, and approximately 6,714 image files and 205 videos of child exploitative and erotica material.

Hayes made an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Colleen D. Holland and was held pending a detention hearing.

The complaint is the culmination of an investigation by the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Kevin Sucher, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Erin Keegan, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.   

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