Albany Man Indicted for Distributing Child Pornography

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Thomas Rosario, age 35, of Albany, was arraigned on August 26 on an indictment charging him with distributing child pornography through the Kik phone messaging application.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The indictment alleges that in May 2017, Rosario – using the Kik name “tommynewtothis” – shared child pornography by providing others with links to Dropbox.com remote storage accounts that contained child pornography.  On August 26, 2019, Rosario appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Christian F. Hummel and was released under pretrial supervision conditions.

The charges in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

If convicted, Rosario faces at least 5 years and up to 20 years in prison, and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of at least 5 years and up to life.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.  Rosario would also have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

This case is being investigated by the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.