Rochester man pleads guilty to child pornography charges

Matthew Gene Marquardt, a 34-year-old Rochester man, has entered a plea agreement regarding new charges involving the dissemination of child sexual abuse material and possession of child pornography.

The case originated from cyber tips received by Rochester police concerning an adult sending sexually explicit images to a TikTok account. Investigators determined the account was being operated by an individual posing as a 13-year-old girl. According to court documents, Marquardt allegedly sent a photo of himself and claimed to have an AI-generated video depicting child pornography. He was also accused of sending sexually explicit media of himself and requesting similar images from the account holder.

Marquardt was previously convicted of five counts of possession of child pornography in October and was serving a sentence of five years of probation with a stayed 120-month prison term.