Registered sex offender pleads guilty to child porn after undercover investigation

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A registered sex offender from Rochester has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, the U.S. District Court of Western New York announced Thursday.

Attorneys said that 36-year-old Mathew Schulman asked for sexually explicit photos from someone online who he thought was an 11-year-old girl, but was actually an undercover investigator from state police. According to U.S. Attorney Trini Ross, the investigator caught Schulman asking the girl to produce pornography and pressured her to meet him for sex between May 2021 and June 2022.

Attorneys also said he distributed pornographic images of children. State Police and Homeland Security Investigations searched Schulman’s home on June 7 and took him into custody.

Shulman is on probation for a June 2016 conviction of possessing child pornography. His new conviction will land him in prison for at least 10 years, with a maximum of 20. He will also face a lifetime period of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Shulman will be sentenced on June 8.