“This Office will continue to utilize federal resources to protect the public from those who would harm our children," said U.S. Attorney Hochul.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig R. Gestring, who handled the case, stated that in 2005, the defendant was convicted in Wayne County, NY of Sexual Abuse, First Degree involving sexual contact he had with an eight-year-old girl. West was sentenced to probation for that offense. In 2014, the defendant became the subject of a new investigation by the New York State Police related to sexual abuse allegations involving a five-year-old girl.
During that same time, Special Agents with Homeland Security Investigations received information linking West to online images of a young child. During that investigation, agents learned that West had recently been arrested and sentenced to six months in prison in the Wayne County jail for failure to pay child support. At the time of that arrest, West was in possession of an LG Cellular phone, which agents seized and searched pursuant to a federal warrant. During the forensic examination of West’s phone, HSI recovered sexually explicit photos of the same five-year-old girl that was the victim in the case being investigated by the New York State Police.
In addition to those photos, agents recovered approximately 1,500 images of children, including many prepubescent girls and boys, being raped and subjected to sadistic and masochistic sexual conduct.
The sentence was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero, and Investigators and Troopers with the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Craig Hanesworth.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
