Pittsburgh Man Indicted on Child Sexual Exploitation Charges

PITTSBURGH - A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge of Production and Attempted Production of Material Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today.

The one-count Indictment named Anthony Cerasi, age 46, as the sole defendant.

According to the Indictment, on April 13, 2021, Cerasi used and attempted to use Minor A, a minor female, to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction, namely, videos depicting Minor A engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

The law provides for a maximum total sentence of not less than fifteen years and not more than thirty years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

Assistant United States Attorney Heidi M. Grogan is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

The FBI Pittsburgh Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, conducted the investigation leading to the Indictment in this case.

An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.