Defendant Attempted to Produce Sexually Explicit Videos of a Twelve-Year-Old Girl
ALBANY, NEW YORK - JASON FRANK, age 27, of Rochester, New York, pled guilty today in Albany before Chief United States District Court Judge Gary L. Sharpe to one count of attempted production of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Joseph D’Amico, Superintendent of the New York State Police. FRANK faces a mandatory minimum sentence of at least fifteen years of imprisonment and up to a maximum sentence of thirty years of imprisonment. FRANK was detained pending his sentencing.
Pursuant to a written plea agreement, FRANK admitted that in February 2013 he began chatting online with what he believed was a twelve-year-old girl located in Albany, New York. The girl was actually an undercover investigator with the New York State Police. The online chat sessions quickly became sexual and over a span of approximately two months FRANK sent the girl still images and videos of child pornography in an effort to convince her to meet with him at a Syracuse hotel in order to film a sexual encounter with FRANK. On April 9, 2013, FRANK arrived at a hotel in Syracuse expecting to meet the twelve-year-old girl and engage in sexual acts with the girl. Instead, FRANK was arrested by the New York State Police. At the time of FRANK’s arrest, he was in possession of a digital camera with video recording capabilities and a thumb drive that contained still images and video of child pornography.
Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 27, 2013, at 9:00 a.m. in Albany, New York. This case was investigated by the New York State Police.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
