A Henrietta man was arrested on federal child exploitation charges after investigators found suspected child sexual abuse material in online accounts, electronic devices and photo albums, prosecutors said.
Thomas O’Brien, 65, is charged by criminal complaint with production and possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York. The charges are accusations, not findings of guilt.
Prosecutors said a prior 1991 conviction for first-degree sexual abuse of a 9-year-old boy affects the penalties he faces if convicted in the new case. The charges carry a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 40 years in prison, along with possible lifetime supervised release and a $250,000 fine, according to the release.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office contacted Homeland Security Investigations in April about O’Brien, a Level 2 registered sex offender. Investigators said sex-offender registration forms showed that he had reported moving from Henrietta to Vietnam in October 2025 and back to Henrietta in June 2026. The sheriff’s coordinator told investigators he had made similar trips for several years.
A January 2026 tip from Instagram to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported that suspected child sexual abuse material had been exchanged in a group chat and received by an account investigators linked to O’Brien, the complaint says. Search warrants for that account and another account linked to him yielded images and conversations that investigators cited in the complaint.
Homeland Security Investigations agents searched his electronic devices when he returned from Vietnam through Chicago O’Hare International Airport on June 4. Prosecutors said a later forensic review found suspected child sexual abuse material on three of four devices examined.
Federal agents and Monroe County sheriff’s investigators searched O’Brien’s Henrietta home Sept. 15 and found albums containing hundreds of photographs dating to about 2013, according to the complaint. Investigators described the photographs as depicting minors in various stages of undress.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Anyone with information about the case can contact the HSI tip line at 1-866-347-2423.
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