BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Timothy Myers, 35, of Freehold, NJ, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge William P. Geraci, Jr. to production of child pornography and cyberstalking. The charges carry a minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum penalty of 35 years, and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles M. Kruly, who is handling the case, stated that between December 2016 and August 2017, the defendant, using the names “CJ Mikowski” and “Colin James,” communicated via Facebook with five minor girls who lived in the Western District of New York. During those communications, Myers pretended to be a boy close in age to the minor girls with whom he was speaking. The defendant then coerced or attempted to coerce, each of the minor girls, who ranged in age from 13-16 years old, into sending sexually explicit visual depictions of themselves. Myers also transported one victim from New York State to New Jersey and engaged in sexual intercourse with her, and distributed sexually explicit images of the victim over Facebook.
In addition, between March and August 2017, the defendant, while residing in New Jersey and using the alias Colin James, contacted one of the victims via Facebook and made her believe she was in a relationship with him. Myers then persuaded the victim to produce sexually explicit images of herself. When the victim did not send the defendant additional sexually explicit images, he threatened to distribute images of the victim that he had already obtained. This repeated harassment caused the victim substantial emotional distress. Myers also used Facebook to contact three other victims using the names CJ Mikowski and Colin James. Once again, he made the victims believe that he was in a relationship with them and requested that they produce sexually explicit images of themselves. The defendant told the victims that if they did not send him these images, he would distribute previously sent images of the victims. These victims also suffered substantial emotional distress as a result of defendant’s repeated and sustained harassment.
The plea is the result of an investigation by New York State Police, under the direction of Major James Hall, and Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly.
Sentencing is scheduled for December 17, 2020, before Judge Geraci.
No comments:
Post a Comment