Rochester Man Sentenced to 204 Months in Prison for Producing Child Pornography Via Snapchat

MINNEAPOLIS – A Rochester man was sentenced today to 204 months in prison, followed by 25 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $5,000 to the Domestic Trafficking Victims Fund, for producing sexually explicit images and videos of a minor. Acting U.S. Attorney Charles J. Kovats made the announcement after Chief U.S. District John R. Tunheim sentenced the defendant.

According to court documents, between November 8, 2020, and January 8, 2021, Arkady Pavlovich Pichurin, 26, sexually exploited a minor who was between the ages of nine and 10 years old at the time. Pichurin, who contacted the minor using a variety of instant messaging and texting services, including Snapchat, lied about his age and identity to carry out his sexual exploitation of the minor. Pichurin admitted to using similar tactics to sexually exploit and produce pornographic images and videos of more than 20 minors. Pichurin also had thousands of images depicting sexual abuse of infants and toddlers and bestiality.

On September 7, 2021, Pichurin pleaded guilty to one count of producing sexually explicit images and videos of a minor.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

If you know of any child who may have been a victim of exploitation, please call the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or visit NCMEC’s web site at www.missingkids.com.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI and the Rochester Police Department, with substantial assistance from the Olmsted County Attorney’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander D. Chiquoine prosecuted the case.

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