U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced on Wednesday that a Rochester man pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Meredith A. Vacca to possession of child pornography and cyberstalking, which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford, who is handling the case, stated that on August 22, 2024, investigators executed a search warrant on Casey Medina’s cellular telephone. During a forensic extraction and a manual review of the phone, approximately 360 images of child pornography the 33-year-old had received over a social media platform were recovered. At least one image involved a prepubescent child being subjected to violence.
In addition, between May and August 2024, Medina disseminated and posted sexually explicit photographs that had been edited to falsely depict a victim engaged in sexually explicit activity to various social media platforms and public websites via the internet. The photographs depicted the victim’s face superimposed on pornographic images made to appear as if she was engaged in sexual intercourse. Beginning in May 2024, over the course of approximately 26 days, and again between June 2024 and July 2024, Medina sent and recruited others via the internet to send, threatening and harassing text messages to the victim. The messages included threats to kidnap, rape, sexually abuse, and kill her, as well as including sexually explicit images with her face superimposed on them. In many instances, Medina included identifying information while disseminating the victim’s images, including her hometown and place of work.
Medina was an Avon Police Department trainee at the time of his arrest last August.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation by the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Tobias Shelley, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 4 at 2:00 p.m., before Judge Vacca.
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