Michael Thomas Pritchard, a resident of Erie, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on July 23 to 150 months in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release after being convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material, United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced.
Chief United States District Judge Cathy Bissoon imposed the sentence. According to information presented in court, Pritchard, age 49, was found with hundreds of digital images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct while he was on parole for previous Pennsylvania child exploitation convictions.
Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold prosecuted the case for the government. Rivetti commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pennsylvania State Police, Erie Police Department, and Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for their work leading to Pritchard’s prosecution.
The case was part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse nationwide. The project brings together federal, state, and local resources to locate and prosecute individuals who exploit children and to identify victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood and its efforts against child exploitation crimes, readers can visit www.justice.gov/psc.