SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Dominic Zampini, age 26, of Liverpool, New York, pled guilty today to one count of receipt of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman, Matthew Scarpino, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Buffalo, New York Field Office, and New York State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen.
Zampini, who remains detained pending his sentencing scheduled for August 24, 2022, faces at least 5 years’ and up to 60 years’ imprisonment on the charges. Following a sentence of imprisonment, Zampini will also be placed on a term of supervised release of between 5 years and life, and will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.
As part of his guilty plea, Zampini admitted that between October 2020 and December 2020, he knowingly received child pornography images over the internet from another individual he met through a mobile application, and that in September, 2021 he possessed images depicting child pornography on two cell phones.
This case is being investigated the New York State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. McCrobie as a part of Project Safe Childhood.
Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and is designed to marshal federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.