CONTENT WARNING CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN
BUFFALO, N.Y.-
Acting
U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Robert
Pritchett, 21, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to production of child
pornography, before U.S. District Judge Lawrence
J. Vilardo. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years
in prison and a maximum of 30 years.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who is handling the case, stated that in October of 2015,
Robert Pritchett,
utilizing the name “Jess Allen,” began communicating with Victim 1, a
17-year-old female from New Jersey,
via text messages and chat messages over the internet. The defendant
convinced her to travel to New York to live with him. Pritchett
misrepresented his identity and made fraudulent promises regarding where
she would live upon her arrival. On November 6, 2015,
after picking up Victim 1 at the bus station, the two engaged in sexual
activities, and then traveled to a motel in Tonawanda, NY. While at
the motel, Pritchett had Victim 1 engage in prostitution services and
engaged in additional sexual activities with
Victim 1. During the sexual activity, the defendant used Victim 1’s
Apple iPhone to record some of the activity.
Pritchett
also engaged in online sexual communications and/or sexual contact with
three other minor females. In June of 2014, using
Kik, the defendant sent sexually explicit photographs by a 14-year-old
female (Victim 2) from Buffalo. This then lead to communications with a
15-year-old female friend of Victim 2, also from Buffalo (Victim 3).
Victim 3 went with the defendant to the Galleria
Mall on July 3, 2014, in an effort to get the defendant to delete the
pictures he had of Victim 2. While at the mall, Pritchett engaged in
repeated sexual acts with Victim 3 inside a movie theater and near a
loading dock of a department store.
Between
November, 2013 and March, 2014, the defendant communicated with a
15-year-old female from East Aurora (Victim 4), using ooVoo,
a video and instant messaging chat application. During those
communications, Victim 4 engaged in sexually explicit conduct while
video chatting with the defendant. During the video chat, Pritchett
created two screen shots that depicted Victim 4 engaged in
sexually explicit conduct, and saved those screen shots to his cellular
telephone.
The
plea is the culmination of an investigation by Special Agents of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction
of Adam s. Cohen, Special Agent-in-Charge, along with Detectives from
the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief David
Zack.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 17, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. before Judge Vilardo.
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