Jay Rey, The Buffalo News, N.Y. –
Roger S. “Scotti” Luczkowiak faced judgment on Friday for producing child pornography with a 6-year-old and a federal judge showed the Dunkirk man no mercy.
Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny sentenced Luczkowiak to 70 years in prison for producing and possessing child pornography, in a case that was part of a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sex abuse.
“The production of child pornography is a truly despicable act that could have lifelong effects on children,” U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. said in a statement. “Fortunately, this predator will now likely spend the rest of his natural life behind bars as a result of his actions.”
Dunkirk and state police seized a computer from Luczkowiak’s Dunkirk residence on June 1, 2011, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who handled the case.
Luczkowiak, 32, was accused of producing two videos at his home with the 6-year-old victim. Some of the images included Luczkowiak with the victim, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
A forensic analysis of the computer also found nearly 600 images and more than 80 videos of child pornography.
The 70 years behind bars for the crime is lengthy, but not unheard of, Mango said.
In 2010, Skretny sentenced Shawn Snyder, a former factory worker from Salamanca, to 75 years behind bars for putting five young children in homemade child pornography videos. At the time, court officials said they believed that to be the longest sentence handed down in a child pornography case in Western New York.
Mango said Luczkowiak’s sentence is particularly appropriate considering the vile nature of the case and what Luczkowiak – a two-time drug offender – made the 6-year-old do in the videos.
“The government feels it’s an appropriate sentence. That’s what we were asking for,” Mango said after court on Friday. “But definitely it’s a long sentence, and I think everyone recognizes that.”
Luczkowiak has been in custody since his arrest last August.
Hochul and James Spero, special agent in charge of the Buffalo office of Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said they will continue to be aggressive in investigating and prosecuting crimes against children.
“Today’s lengthy prison sentence is fitting for someone who robbed a child of their innocence and continued to sexually exploit them by freely trading the illegal images with predators around the world,” Spero said in a statement Friday.
The case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the U.S. Justice Department to crack down on the sexual exploitation of children.
The investigation included Homeland Security Investigations, Dunkirk police, the State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office and the Western New York Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory.
