Press Release
Long Island Priest Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography
Conviction Results from “Project Safe Childhood” Initiative

By Robert Nardoza
U.S. Attorney's Office
November 30, 2006

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel06/childporn113006.htm

Contact:
Robert Nardoza
United States Attorney’s Office
(718) 254-6323

Mailing Address: One Pierrepont Plaza
Brooklyn, New York 11201
147 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201

Roslynn R. Mauskopf, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced that Reverend THOMAS G. SALOY, an Administrator of the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Roosevelt, New York, pleaded guilty today to possession of child pornography. The proceeding was held before United State District Court Judge Joseph F. Bianco, at the U.S. Courthouse in Central Islip, New York. SALOY was arrested on November 17, 2006, following a joint investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and the Suffolk County Police Department (“SCPD”) Computer Crimes Unit, members of the Project Safe Childhood Task Force.

In September 2005, the government began an investigation into child pornography trading via America Online (“AOL”). The investigation revealed that an e-mail message had been sent to an AOL screen name used by SALOY and contained three still image files, which appeared to depict sexually explicit images of male children. In September and October 2006, an undercover SCPD detective, posing as a 16-year-old boy, was contacted by SALOY in an AOL chat room. Following a sexually related conversations, SALOY requested that the detective send him a child pornography image. The FBI and SCPD executed a search warrant at the rectory residence of SALOY on November 9, 2006, and seized computer equipment belonging to SALOY containing images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

At the guilty plea proceeding today, SALOY admitted that he possessed over six hundred images of child pornography, which he received over the internet during the past year and-a-half. He further admitted that he knew that possession of child pornography was illegal.

“The prosecution of consumers of child pornography is a priority of this office,” stated United States Attorney Mauskopf. “Those who engage in this criminal activity will be met with the full resources of law enforcement.” Ms. Mauskopf thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Suffolk County Police Department for their assistance in the case.

In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from on-line exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better investigate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit “http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.”

When sentenced, SALOY faces a maximum of ten years’ imprisonment, a life term of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. SALOY was ordered to remain at a secure psychiatric ward at Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre, New York, but will be permitted to obtain psychiatric treatment at St. Luke’s Institute in Silver Springs, Maryland, while subject to electronic monitoring.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Allen L. Bode.

The Defendant:

Name: THOMAS G. SALOY
DOB: 1/29/1961

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