Crystal River, FL man sentenced in N.Y. federal court to 29 years for producing child porn
Lynch's mugshot by Marion County (FL) Sheriff's Office, courtesy of CCSO.
Buffalo, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced on Friday, March 17, 2023 that 33 year-old Andrew Lynch - also known as (A.K.A.) Gregory O’Neil - of Crystal River, Florida, who was convicted of production of child pornography, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. to serve 29 years in prison followed by 20 years supervised release.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron J. Mango and Caitlin M. Higgins, who handled the case, stated that between April and May, 2018, Lynch communicated with minor females located in the Western District of New York, with the intent to have the victims produce child pornography for him. Specifically, Lynch communicated with five victims, ranging in age from 13 to 17 years old, via Facebook Messenger. As a result of Lynch’s threats and coercion, the victims sent Lynch numerous images and videos of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and also engaged in video chats with Lynch during which they engaged in sexually explicit conduct. During some of the communications, Lynch posted child pornographic images of the victims to Facebook, in an effort to coerce them into sending more sexually explicit images and videos.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia and the Citrus County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Citrus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast.
According to a June 12, 2020 release by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging then-30 year-old Andrew Lynch with production and receipt of child pornography, enticement of a minor, and cyberstalking. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum of life in prison, and a fine of $250,000.
Mr. Lynch was initially detained in Florida and later returned to the Western District of New York for arraignment.
According to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, in 2017, the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, High Tech Crimes Unit Sergeant Tiffany Barry received various tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and discovered that all of the messages were coming from the same I.P. address in Crystal River. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) detectives began their investigation finding multiple juveniles were contacted by Lynch and coerced to send sexually explicit photos and videos.
Detectives discovered that Lynch threatened the minor victims by claiming he would send their explicit photographs and messages to their family or post them publicly if they didn't continue talking to him. CCSO detectives then made contact with Lynch at his residence. Lynch advised he had no social media accounts, including Facebook, and denied ever making fake online accounts.
In a later interview at the CCSO's Emergency Operations Center, it was found that an individual, who was previously a resident of Lynch's home, was having several of his old Facebook photos used on the fake accounts used to talk to the victims. These photos ranged from ones taken while the individual was only 15 years old to photos taken in his early twenties. The individual stated that he did not know who would use his photographs to message juveniles, but advised that he would not communicate with someone who was under-aged.
Following this interview, the CCSO's case was adopted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) that was also looking at Lynch for similar crimes. The FBI charged Lynch for the crimes he committed involving these minor victims.
"Yet another repulsive child predator has been taken off of our streets and put behind bars," said Citrfus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast. "The disgusting actions of Andrew Lynch show just how dangerous these perverted individuals can be, threatening several juveniles by using social media as a weapon. My team is dedicated to safeguarding our youth and will remain committed to apprehending predators like Lynch. Thank you to our persistent detectives, Captain Brian Spiddle, and our federal partners for their collaboration and tireless work in this case."
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