Rochester teen pleads guilty to possession of child pornography
Photo illustration: crime and courts / MGN
(ABC 6 News) – UPDATE: A Rochester teenager pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing child pornography Tuesday, Jan. 31.
According to his plea agreement, Chakong Yathortou’s remaining seven charges of child porn possession will be dismissed.
According to court documents, Yathortou will receive no more than 90 days’ confinement in exchange for his plea, and will only receive any jail time if he has not begun treatment by his sentencing date.
According to the plea agreement, Yathortou will likely receive probation.
Yathortou’s sentencing is scheduled for April 3, 2023.
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(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester teenager appeared in court Thursday on 10 charges of possession of child pornography.
Chakong Yathortou, 18, is accused of viewing or downloading 10 files of child pornography onto a phone on or after March 5, 2022 — the date he turned 18.
However, local law enforcement’s investigation dates back to 2021.
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According to court documents, the Rochester Police Department received a tip in February of 2022 concerning Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) or child pornography uploaded to Facebook between Oct. 5 and 11, 2021.
The tip included an email address and username, which RPD tracked back to an address on Valleyhigh Drive NW.
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Rochester police executed a search warrant at the residence in April, and searched several electronic devices found in the home.
They noted that Yathortou’s phone had email accounts matching the suspect email address, as well as a connection with the Facebook account that provided the CSAM tip.
After extracting data from Yathortou’s phone, Rochester police allege that Yathortou was responsible for viewing or downloading the 10 relevant files.
Yathortou told police he gave his Facebook account information to a friend, who must have viewed the child pornography, but allegedly told police he had viewed child pornography on his phone in 2021.