New York man pleads guilty to possession of child pornography

BUFFALO, N.Y. — An upstate New York man pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. This investigation is being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Jeff Coon, 36, of Niagara Falls, N.Y., possessed child pornography videos on two computer hard drives and two disks at his residence in Niagara Falls in April 2009. Some of the children shown in the videos were prepubescent or minors under 12-years-old. Some of the videos portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence. These videos were transmitted to the defendant in interstate commerce via the Internet.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. in Buffalo.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward H. White and Marie P. Grisanti.