Brian O’Brien, 42, of East Aurora, New York, pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography in federal court. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison, as well as a potential fine of $250,000. O’Brien will also be required to register as a sex offender.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan K. Glaberson, between June 2022 and July 19, 2023, O’Brien used Snapchat and WhatsApp to receive, view, and upload images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on his cellphone. Between June 2022 and March 2023, he communicated with an individual in Phoenix, Arizona through WhatsApp about the sexual abuse of children and distributed files containing child pornography.
Between December 2022 and May 2023, O’Brien exchanged text messages with someone known as “J.J.” In these communications, he solicited J.J. to find a minor boy for him to sexually abuse. J.J. provided a phone number for someone purported to be a 15-year-old boy. O’Brien then negotiated with the purported minor about performing sex acts and sent J.J. a message agreeing to pay both the purported minor and J.J. for sexual activity involving the minor, also offering to buy drugs for the minor.
In July 2023, law enforcement executed a search warrant at O’Brien’s residence in East Aurora. During the search they seized several devices including two cell phones, a hard drive, and a laptop computer; over 2,000 images and videos of child pornography were recovered from these devices.
U.S. Attorney DiGiacomo said: “The plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Mark Grimm and the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Amie Feroleto.”
Sentencing is set for December 1, 2025 before Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.
