New York Woman Charged with Child Exploitation Offense

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today announced that SASHA MAY, formerly known as Owen May, 23, of Pelham, New York, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with distribution of child pornography.

May appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria E. Garcia in New Haven and was released on a $100,000 bond into home confinement with electronic monitoring.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, between December 2023 and May 2024, May engaged in online conversations with an undercover law enforcement officer on the messaging platforms Kik and Whisper.  In those conversations, May detailed her sexual interest in children and distributed child pornography.

The charge of distribution of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, the Greenwich Police Department and the Pelham (N.Y.) Police Department. The Task Force includes federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Lembo and Neeraj Patel.

This  prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.