Upstate New York man sentenced for possession of child pornography

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — An upstate New York man was sentenced to five years in prison and 15 years of supervised release for possession of child pornography. The sentence is the result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Norman Edwin Mehlenbacher, 51, of Hornell, N.Y., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer.

An undercover investigation uncovered the defendant trading images of child pornography over the Internet. Mehlenbacher was found with more than 600 images of child pornography on his computers. Some of the images depicted children under the age of 12 and acts of violence against children.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. ICE HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or the CyberTipline.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa J. Miller prosecuted this case on behalf of the U.S. government.