Bean Town Times

A Lanesborough man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Springfield for receiving child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Robert Kend, 63, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 68 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. In May 2024, Kend pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography. Kend was previously arrested and charged by criminal complaint on Sept. 12, 2023.

During a search of Kend’s residence on Sept. 12, 2023, law enforcement located an iPhone and MacBook, both containing numerous videos showing minors performing lewd acts, with Kend sometimes appearing in a picture-in-picture box also performing lewd acts. Law enforcement found similar videos in Kend’s iCloud account as well.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine G. Curley of the Springfield Branch Office prosecuted the case.

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 the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.