Michael Myers, 39, of Lunenburg was sentenced on July 23 in federal court in Worcester to 12 years in prison and five years of supervised release for possessing child sexual abuse material. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman handed down the sentence after Myers pleaded guilty in March to one count of possession of child pornography.
Myers was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in December 2024 and has remained in federal custody since then. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Myers had previously been convicted of possession of child sexual abuse material in 2015 and was classified as a Level One Sex Offender.
Investigators identified Myers as the owner of a Kik Messenger account transmitting files depicting child sexual abuse in August 2023, including one file showing an eight-year-old male victim being raped by an adult male. In April 2024, authorities linked him to a Reddit account also used for transmitting similar material involving minors. Search warrants executed on both accounts revealed chats that further demonstrated his criminal interest in young boys.
A search at Myers’ Lunenburg residence in December 2024 uncovered an anonymous private messenger application on his cell phone containing several videos and pictures depicting child sexual abuse material that were sent and received.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jeff Grimming, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations New England; and Lunenburg Police Interim Chief Jeffrey M. Thibodeau announced the sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Danial Bennett prosecuted the case from the Worcester Branch Office.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched nationwide in May 2006 to combat child exploitation and abuse through coordination among federal, state, and local agencies.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts serves all residents across Massachusetts from its facilities at the John Joseph Moakley United States Federal Courthouse in Boston with branch offices located in Springfield and Worcester; it employs over 200 attorneys, paralegals, and professional staff who enforce federal laws through prosecutions involving national security threats, civil rights violations, community initiatives on violence prevention, among other areas, according to the official website.