MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO OBSTRUCTING
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY INVESTIGATION

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-- Andrew Thomas Keiffer, age 35, of Kendall, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa, to a felony charge of obstruction of justice, U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn of the Western District of New York announced today. The obstruction of justice carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who handled the case, stated that in December 2006, the United States Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) was conducting a child pornography investigation. ICE special agents interviewed the defendant, at the defendant’s residence in Kendall, New York, and the defendant voluntarily surrendered his computer to law enforcement and later admitted that he had seen child pornography images on his computer. Sometime thereafter, the defendant attempted to convince a minor who resided with the defendant to tell authorities that the minor was the individual who had accessed and downloaded the child pornography found on the defendant’s computer.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit .

The plea was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under the direction of Peter Smith.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 3, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. EST, in Rochester, N.Y., in front of U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa.