Donald Coty, 40, and Megan Coty, 38, both of Conesus, New York, were arrested and charged by criminal complaint with production of child pornography, conspiracy to produce child pornography, and possession of child pornography, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo on July 22. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years.
According to the criminal complaint, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip in February that a file containing suspected child pornography was uploaded to Google Photos and Google Drive by an individual using the username “Don Coty.” The tip was forwarded to the New York State Police (NYSP) and traced back to Donald and Megan Coty.
NYSP investigators executed a search warrant at the couple’s Marrowback Road residence on June 23. Thirteen electronic items were seized during the search, including two hard drives, two laptops, six cellphones—including an LG cellphone—and three USB drives. An initial review found approximately 1.3 million image and video files on one hard drive; over 174,000 files contained suspected child pornography involving two minor victims as well as images featuring the defendants.
Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to contact the New York State Police at (585) 398-4100 or crimetip@troopers.ny.gov. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa M. Marangola following an investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations under Acting Special Agent in Charge Anthony Patrone, along with NYSP under Major Kevin Sucher.
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York prosecutes federal criminal violations—including cases such as this—handles civil litigation for the United States government, collects federal debts, employs about 120 prosecutors and staff members across its main office in Buffalo at 138 Delaware Avenue and branch office in Rochester at 100 State Street; it covers seventeen counties in western New York while engaging community groups through training forums aimed at public safety improvements—all under operation within the United States Department of Justice, according to the official website.
Authorities emphasized that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.