Mount Morris man pleads guilty in federal, county court to child porn, rape charges

A Mount Morris man and registered sex offender admitted possessing child pornography during an appearance in U.S. District Court last week and the next day also pleaded guilty in Livingston County Court to first-degree attempted rape.

Calvin R. Patrick, 35, pleaded guilty April 12 to federal charges of receiving child pornography and faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years to a maximum of 45 years in federal prison. He is expected to be sentenced to 24-1/2 years in prison when sentenced on July 27.

The charge - based on Patrick's prior conviction for possession of child pornography - carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum of 40 years and a fine of $250,000.

While Patrick is serving the federal sentence, he will also be serving 10 years on the Livingston County plea. Sentencing, which will also include 5 years of post-release supervision and an order of protection for his victim, will be July 13 in Livingston County Court.

The plea in Livingston County satisfies a multi-count indictment against Patrick, according to Assistant District Attorney Vic Rowcliffe.

Patrick was charged by the U.S. Attorney after he enticed two girls younger than 18 years old to send him sexually explicit photographs in the fall of 2015.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Lee, Patrick used the app known as "Kik" to communicate with the girls, a 14-year old in Florida and an 11-year-old in Pennsylvania.

Lee, in a news release issued in December 2015, stated that according to the complaint, law enforcement was notified by a cooperating witness who saw the contents of Patrick's electronic tablet that appeared to depict a nude 14-year-old female. The witness further told law enforcement that she was aware that Patrick had been communicating with an 11-year-old and that Patrick had made comments in the past about picking her up and keeping her locked up.

A search warrant was conducted by Livingston County Probation and Mount Morris Police at Patrick's apartment. Law enforcement officers seized the tablet, a computer and other items. A forensic analysis determined that Patrick had been chatting on Kik with two minors under the age of 18 who resided out of state, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Patrick was on probation at the time for a 2008 conviction in Wyoming County for possessing a sexual performance by a child less than 16 years old, a class E felony. He was living in Perry at the time of that conviction, which also required him to register as a Level 1 sex offender with the New York State Sex Offender Registry.

The federal charges were filed in December 2015, the same month that a Livingston County Grand Jury indicted Patrick on nine charges, including rape and multiple counts of unlawful imprisonment. Last week's plea in Livingston County Court satisfies all counts of the indictment, said Assistant District Attorney Vic Rowclifee.

Patrick is serving a 16-months to 4 year prison term at Midstate Correctional Facility for a 2016 conviction in Livingston County Court for violating probation on the 2008 porn conviction.

The federal plea is the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Adam S. Cohen; the Mount Morris Police Department, under the direction of Chief Kenneth Mignemi; the Livingston County Probation Department, under the direction of Director Lynne C. Mignemi; and the Livingston County District Attorney's Office, under the direction of Gregory J. McCaffrey.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.