BUFFALO, N.Y. — A man from North Tonawanda has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says Homeland Security investigations and the North Tonawanda Police Department executed a search warrant to search the home of Matthew Ostrowski, 48, after receiving a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Authorities searched Ostrowski's residence in North Tonawanda back in December 2019, seizing seven digital items. The U.S. Attorney's Office says forensic examination allegedly recovered 12 image files of suspected child pornography on a desktop computer.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, "In total 4,204 image files of suspected child pornography, and an additional 8,523 image files of child exploitative material, were recovered on the desktop computer."
U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. says a vast majority of the suspected child pornography files depict minors under the age of 12. There were allegedly approximately 101 images depicting infants or toddlers, and another approximately 48 images depicting violence against minors.
The U.S. Attorney's Office added that Google searches for child pornography were also recovered.
After the search warrant was executed, Ostrowski also turned his iPhone over to investigators. A forensic examination of Ostrowski's phone recovered what appeared to be sexually explicit text conversations with minors, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The first conversation allegedly took place over two days in January of 2019 with a minor Ostrowski believes is 16 years old. The conversation allegedly details a "sexual relationship the minor is purportedly having with his/her adult teacher."
Federal search warrants were issued again in February of 2020, seizing a new iPhone and a laptop, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. No images of child pornography were found on the phone; however, 178 image files and five videos of suspected child pornography were allegedly found on the laptop.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says a vast majority of the suspected child pornography files depicted minors under the age of 12.
If convicted of the charges, Ostrowski faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
