A Rochester man, Zachary Guthrie, 32, has been arrested and charged with distributing and possessing child pornography. The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo and carry a minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of 20 years, and a $250,000 fine.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford, the investigation began after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received CyberTips from Instagram in May and July 2024 about child pornography uploaded by a user linked to an IP address in the Rochester area. Authorities traced these uploads back to Guthrie.
On September 15, 2024, law enforcement received a report from Microsoft regarding an Xbox user named HeadStashClass who posted: “im gonna shoot up the local preschool tomorrow for the vine.” This post was also traced back to Guthrie. In October 2024, police executed a search warrant at his residence and seized a cell phone containing more than 200 videos and over 320 images of child pornography.
The investigation continued into early 2025. In February, NCMEC received another CyberTip from Instagram involving online enticement of children for sexual acts. A 14-year-old girl reported having sexually explicit conversations online with someone later identified as Guthrie. In March 2025, the FBI National Threat Operations Center received an anonymous tip naming “Zachary Guthrie” as soliciting sex with minors and asking local sex workers for girls aged 12 or younger after screenshots appeared on Facebook.
In April 2025, Facebook submitted another CyberTip related to child sex trafficking. According to Facebook’s report, a user sent sexually explicit messages via Messenger offering money to perform sexual acts on her “kid,” which was again traced back to Guthrie.
Guthrie made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Colleen D. Holland and is being held pending a detention hearing scheduled for August 29, 2025.
“The complaint is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Mark Grimm, the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Kevin Sucher, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.”
Officials emphasized that “the fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.”
