New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
“A Quincy man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to receiving child pornography.
Andre Tilahun, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for Jan. 10, 2023. Tilahun was arrested and charged in May 2021.
In April 2021, a search was conducted at Tilahun’s home where a laptop belonging to Tilahun was seized. A forensic examination of the laptop revealed that Tilahun received images depicting child pornography on the Kik Messenger platform. Tilahun also participated in a Kik chatroom where participants shared child pornography.
The charge of receipt of child pornography provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 20 years in prison, five years and up to life of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Matthew B. Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Quincy Police Department and Weymouth Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin A. Saltzman of Rollins’ Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.” -Massachusetts Department of Justice.
