Rochester Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Douglas Bedient, 45, of Rochester, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa, to two felony charges, namely the receipt/distribution and possession of child pornography. Receipt and distribution of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 40 years in prison. The possession of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison. The defendant may also be sentenced to a fine of $250,000 on each charge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa J. Miller, who handled the case, stated that the defendant came to the attention of law enforcement during an undercover investigation into online trading of child pornography. The defendant pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing images of child pornography in May 2009 and to possessing images of child pornography in December 2011. This is the second child pornography conviction for the defendant, who was convicted of possessing child pornography in 1999 in United States District Court for the Western District of New York.

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 plea was the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher Piehota; members of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn; and members of the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Sheppard.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 24, 2012 at 3:45 p.m. EDT in Rochester, New York in front of Judge Siragusa.