Convicted Sex Offender Sentenced in Child Pornography Case

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Brian Lee McGaughey, 48, of Tampa, Florida and formerly of Buffalo, New York, who was convicted of receiving child pornography, was sentenced to 262 months in prison followed by lifetime supervised release by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, who handled the case, stated that McGaughey admitted  to receiving pornographic images of a 14-year-old girl on his cell phone whom he had been engaging in a sexual relationship with for over a year. When McGaughey learned that the police were investigating the relationship and looking for him, he left Florida and traveled to Buffalo. During the trip and after he arrived, he maintained electronic contact with the minor. After approximately two weeks, McGaughey returned to Florida to pick up and bring the minor back to Buffalo without her mother's consent. In an attempt to evade authorities, McGaughey purchased an airline ticket for the minor to travel to Puerto Rico where he planned to meet her at a later date. The victim was located at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport as a result of an Amber Alert. The defendant was also convicted of attempted rape in New York State in 1989.  

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 sentencing was the culmination of an investigation of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, under the direction of Chief George Gast; special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-In-Charge James H. Robertson; and the Tampa Police Department, under the direction of Chief Jane Castor.