A Conesus couple faces federal child pornography charges after investigators said a search of their home led to the seizure of 13 electronic devices and the discovery of more than 174,000 suspected illegal files.
Donald Coty, 40, and Megan Coty, 38, were arrested and charged by criminal complaint with production of child pornography, conspiracy to produce child pornography and possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York said.
The charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years. The allegations are contained in a criminal complaint, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
According to the complaint, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip in February involving a suspected illegal file uploaded to Google Photos and a Google Drive account. The tip was forwarded to New York State Police and traced to the couple, prosecutors said.
State police investigators searched the couple's Marrowback Road residence June 23 and seized hard drives, laptops, cellphones and USB drives. An initial review of one hard drive found 1.3 million image and video files, prosecutors said.
Federal officials said more than 174,000 of the files reviewed so far contained suspected child pornography. The investigation is continuing.
Anyone with information related to the case was asked to contact New York State Police at 585-398-4100 or crimetip@troopers.ny.gov. Homeland Security Investigations and state police investigated the case.
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