Rochester Man Charged with Production and Possession of Child Pornography

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Anthony Davis, 43, of Rochester, New York, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum penalty of 30 years, a $500,000 fine or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, in July 2012, city of Rochester Police received a report from a cooperating witness who found a sexually explicit video of a 7-year-old minor on a smartphone belonging to Davis. The complaint alleges that the witness was able to identify the minor victim and Davis’s voice from the video. Rochester police executed a search warrant and seized the defendant’s telephones. Hundreds of suspected images of child pornography were found on two telephones that were seized, including the video of the 7-year-old minor that Davis allegedly produced. The defendant is currently facing state charges, including sexual abuse, in Monroe County.

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 criminal complaint is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the FBI Cyber Crime Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Piehota; the city of Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Sheppard; and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, under the direction of Sandra Doorley.

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.