U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
Northern District of New York
100 South Clinton Street
Room 900; P.O. Box 7198
Syracuse, New York 13261-7198
(315) 448-0672

November 3, 2008

NEWS RELEASE

Andrew T. Baxter, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and John F. Pikus, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany Division, announced that MICHAEL DERENZO, age 35, of Voorheesville, New York, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe in Federal Court in Albany on his guilty plea to count one of an Indictment charging him with the possession of child pornography. DERENZO was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment and ordered to serve a 5 year term of supervised release. He also was ordered to (1) have no unsupervised contact with minors; (2) participate in a sex offender program; and (3) register with the New York State Sex Offender Registry Program. The court also ordered that computer equipment be forfeited to the United States.

DERENZO pled guilty on June 25, 2008. In connection with his plea, DERENZO admitted the following in a written plea agreement and during his plea proceeding: At all times relevant herein, MICHAEL DERENZO resided in Voorheesville, New York, which is located in the Northern District of New York. He also utilized a personal computer, which was kept at his residence.

On August 25, 2004, members of the Albany County Sheriff's Department Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant on said residence. Upon executing said search warrant, investigators found printed computer images of naked young females on the floor. Under a bed, investigators discovered numerous printed computer images of young females in sexually explicit positions which appear to have been downloaded from the Internet. A number of the images contained notations indicating that they had been obtained via the Internet. Some of these images depict naked prepubescent minors engaged in the lascivious exhibition of their genital and pubic areas. A Venture Computer Processing Unit, serial number 104851638, 102 CD-ROMs, and 14- 3 ½ inch Floppy disks were also seized from DERENZO’S residence.

Forensic examinations of the computer and disks were subsequently conducted. Images, in still and video format, of actual minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct...were recovered from said computer and a computer disk. Said images depict individuals under the age of 18 engaged in, among other things, masturbation and the lascivious exhibition of the genitals and pubic area..The images recovered depict actual, as opposed to computer generated, images of minors engaged in such conduct. A number of these images depict prepubescent minors engaged in such conduct.

DERENZO knowingly and willfully possessed the printed computer images and the images found on said computer and disks he used. In addition, he possessed the images knowing that they depict minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. DERENZO obtained such images from, among other places, websites and individuals located outside the State of New York. Moreover, such images, and the actual computer and disks used to obtain and download these depictions, were transported in interstate and foreign commerce and were produced using materials that had been mailed, or shipped or transported in interstate and foreign commerce.

DERENZO was arrested by investigators with the Albany County Sheriff’s Department on August 25, 2004, on drug-related charges. The case was investigated by the Albany County Sheriff’s Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

CONTACT:

Thomas Spina Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorney tel.(518) 431-0247