BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Michael Weaver, 39, of Niagara Falls, NY, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. The defendant also pleaded guilty to violating the terms of his supervised release. The charges carry a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum of 20, and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol G. Bridge, who is handling the case, stated that Weaver was previously convicted in October 2007 of possession of child pornography for being in possession of approximately 16,000 images and 153 videos of child pornography. The defendant was sentenced to 78 months and five years supervised release. Weaver was released and placed on supervised release on Aug. 30, 2013.
One condition of his supervised release prevented the defendant from possessing cellular telephones without the authorization of the U.S. Probation Department. On Dec. 16, 2014, during a routine visit, probation officers found Weaver had two unauthorized cellular telephones. The defendant admitted that he got the phones in order to download images of child pornography. A forensic examination found that the phones contained 1500 images and 20 videos of child pornography. Many of the images were of prepubescent children under the age of 12 that depicted violence between adults and the children.
The plea is the result of an investigation by United States Probation Department, under the direction of Anthony SanGiacomo and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge J. Michael Kennedy.
Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 14, 2015 at 12:30 p.m. before Judge Arcara.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
