A Cattaraugus woman has pleaded guilty to the distribution of child pornography.
U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Melanie Thompson, 46, made the plea before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of 20 years, and a $250,000 fine.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey T. Fiut, who is handling the case, stated that between Jan. 9, 2017, and March 6, 2020, the defendant took sexually explicit photographs of Victim 1, a minor, in furtherance of her plan to impersonate Victim 1. Thereafter, defendant, while impersonating Victim 1, engaged in conversations of a sexual nature with two minor male victims (Victims 2 and 3) and one adult. During those conversations, defendant: solicited a sexually explicit picture from Victim 2; sent, via social media, the sexually explicit photograph she had taken of Victim 1 to Victim 3, receiving two sexually explicit images in return from Victim