Cattaraugus Woman To Spend A Decade Behind Bars For Distributing Child Porn

BUFFALO – A Cattaraugus County woman will spend a decade behind bars for distributing child pornography following her Tuesday sentencing.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo says 47-year-old Melanie Thompson, of Cattaraugus, took sexually explicit photographs of a child between January 2017 and March 2020.

Thompson, prosecutors explain, then impersonated the child and engaged in sexually explicit conversations with two underaged males.

Prosecutors go on to say that during those conversations, Thompson also solicited a sexually explicit picture from those victims via social media.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office.