Thomas O’Brien was a registered sex offender, international child predator
Anyone with information regarding this defendant or this case is asked to contact the HSI Tipline at 1-866-347-2423.
HENRIETTA NY MAN ARRESTED, CHARGED WITH PRODUCTION AND POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Thomas D. O’Brien, 65, of Henrietta, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with the production and possession of child pornography. Because of a prior conviction involving the sexual abuse of a minor, the charges carry a minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum of 40 years, a lifetime period of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
According to the criminal complaint, in April 2026, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Sex Offense Coordinator contacted Homeland Security Investigations regarding O’Brien, who is a level two registered sex offender in New York State following his 1991 conviction for Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, which involved the sexual abuse of a nine-year-old male victim. As part of his sex offender registration requirements, O’Brien is required to submit change of address forms to the Sheriff’s Office each time he moves to a new residence, as well as information regarding his phone number, internet accounts and online identifiers. O’Brien completed a change of address form in October 2025, changing his address from Henrietta to Vietnam. In June 2026, O’Brien completed another form, changing his address from Vietnam back to Henrietta, as well as listing his Instagram and X accounts. According to the coordinator, O’Brien has engaged in a similar pattern of travel to Vietnam for several years.
All images of O’Brien, known to haunt chat rooms dedicated to sexual violence against children
In January, 2026, the National center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a CyberTip from Instagram stating that child pornography had been exchanged in a messenger chat room named “Tom & You Gay,” and that a user uploaded a file including child pornography to the “Tom & You Gay” chat. According to Instagram, the files were received by O’Brien’s Instagram account “bom4bym.” The Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on the files received by O’Brien and recovered an image and a video that included child pornography.
Another search warrant was executed by investigators on another Instagram account registered to O’Brien, which goes by the name “Tom & Jerry.” The search recovered nude images of O’Brien, images of a minor in a bathtub, and sexually suggestive images of minor boys. A chat conversation was also recovered indicating that O’Brien has a sexual interest in minor Vietnamese boys.
On June 4, 2026, on his return trip from Vietnam, HSI agents conducted a border search of O’Brien’s electronic devices at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, including a laptop and two cell phones, recovering nude images of minors. A subsequent forensic examination revealed that three of the four devices contained child pornography. On September 15, 2026, HSI and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at O’Brien’s Henrietta residence and located photo albums containing hundreds of printed photographs, from approximately 2013, depicting apparent minors in various stages of undress, and nude minors, most of whom were of Asian descent.
Anyone with information regarding this defendant or this case is asked to contact the HSI Tipline at 1-866-347-2423.
The criminal complaint is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Anthony Patrone and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Todd Baxter.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
