June 21, 2006

6/21/2006 Thirty-four year old man of Wallkill, New York, pled guilty to a one count Information charging him with the distribution of child pornography.

Glenn T. Suddaby, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, announced today that PATRICK DROZDOWSKI, age 34 of Wallkill, New York, pled guilty in United States District Court in Albany before the Honorable Lawrence E. Kahn to a one count Information charging him with the distribution of child pornography. DROZDOWSKI also admitted a forfeiture allegation wherein he agreed to forfeit computer equipment used in connection with his offense.

In connection with his plea, DROZDOWSKI admitted that:

Sometime between September and November of 2005, DROZDOWSKI established a "File Server" or "F-serve" on his computer in an Internet Relay Chatroom (IRC). This "F-serve" was operated from his home in Wallkill. Utilizing F-serve software, DROZDOWSKI set his computer to automatically respond to upload (in) or download (out) requests for computer images by other individuals. He designated a section of his computer's hard drive to house the computer files he wanted to share and then set his "rules" for trading. These rules specified a ratio for how much the server would return download credit in exchange for material sent in. Also, his F-serve host specified what type of material he was seeking and other rules regarding exchanges over the F-serve.

On September 13th and 15th of 2005, an undercover detective with the Rockland County, Sheriff's Department, working with agents from the FBI, utilized IRC to monitor persons who were allowing other computer users to access their computer by means of a F-serve to exchange child pornography. On each of these dates, the undercover officers utilized the IRC to establish chat sessions with DROZDOWSKI'S f-serve. DROZDOWSKI had selected channels named "100%PreTeenGirlSexPics" and "100%preteengirlsextrade" to advertise this f-serve. On these dates, the undercover agent accessed the f-serve and downloaded a number of images, including an image of a prepubescent minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

On November 18, 2005, DROZDOWSKI'S computer was seized from his home in Wallkill, pursuant to a federal search warrant. Thousands of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct were recovered from this computer. Many of these images had been intentionally saved by DROZDOWSKI and placed in a private directory. A number of these images depict minors engaged in sadistic and masochistic activities.

Sentencing was scheduled by Judge Kahn for October 12, 2006, at 11:00 a.m. in U.S. District Court in Albany. DROZDOWSKI faces a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years imprisonment, and a fine of $250,000.00.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Rockland County Sheriff's Department.

CONTACT: Thomas Spina Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorney

tel.(518) 431-0247