Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza has sentenced Bryan Matthew Cooney (30, Casselberry) to 19 years in federal prison, to be followed by 30 years of supervised release, for possession of child pornography.  The court also ordered Cooney to forfeit a cellphone, which was used in furtherance of the commission of the offense.

According to court records, from September 19 through September 27, 2018, Cooney chatted with an FBI undercover agent (UC) though a social media application about sexually exploiting a 12-year-old girl, who Cooney alleged was his daughter.  During the chats, Cooney shared clothed images of the child with the UC and alleged to have had sexually abused and produced images of the girl engaged in sexually explicit conduct. 

On October 30, 2018, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Cooney’s residence and interviewed him.  Cooney admitted that he was the person chatting with the UC about sexually exploiting a 12-year-old child, who was actually his friend’s daughter.  Cooney indicated that he obtained images of the girl from his friend’s Facebook page and shared them with the UC during chats. Cooney said that he had been viewing child pornography for the past four of five years and gave the agents access to his Dropbox account, where they found hundreds of videos and numerous images of child pornography. The images depict bestiality and other acts of sadistic conduct against children between the ages of 4 and 10. 

Additionally, in a subfolder, Cooney had images of his Facebook friend’s daughters.  Cooney had posted some of those images on a social media application while pretending that one of the children was his alleged 12-year-old daughter. Cooney did this in an effort to obtain images of child pornography from other online users.  The subfolder was identified with the child’s real name.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.   

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ilianys Rivera Miranda.

Orlando, Florida – Bryan Matthew Cooney (30, Casselberry) has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. Cooney faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

According to court records, from September 19, 2018 through September 27, 2018, Cooney chatted with an FBI undercover agent (UC) via a social media application known as “KIK” about sexually exploiting a 12-year-old female child, which Cooney said was his daughter. During the chats, Cooney shared clothed images of the minor with the UC and said he had sexually abused and produced images of the minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. 

During the investigation, FBI agents identified Cooney’s residence and obtained a warrant to search for evidence related to the allegations. On October 30, 2018, FBI agents executed the search warrant and interviewed Cooney, and Cooney admitted that he was the person chatting with the UC about sexually exploiting a 12-year-old child. Cooney also said that he had actually obtained images of the minor from his friend’s Facebook page and had shared those pictures with the UC during chats. Cooney also said that he had been viewing child pornography for the past four of five years, which he downloaded to his iPhone through KIK, and then uploaded to a Dropbox account.

Upon viewing the Dropbox account, agents found hundreds of videos and numerous images of child pornography depicting bestiality and other acts of sadistic conduct against prepubescent children between the ages of 4 and 10. Cooney had posted images of his friend’s daughter on KIK, and attempted to obtain images of child pornography from other KIK users, by trading clothed images of his friends’ daughter.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ilianys Rivera Miranda.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.