Defendant Prosecuted Under Project Safe Childhood and Federal “Worst of the Worst" Anti-Violence Initiative
ALBUQUERQUE - Michael Lippke, 71, a previously convicted sex offender residing in Albuquerque, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court to ten years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for possessing child pornography. Lippke will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence. Lippke was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to the victims depicted in the child pornography involved in his crimes of conviction.
Lippke was arrested on July 16, 2015, on an indictment charging him with two counts of distribution of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and seven counts of possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The indictment charged Lippke with distributing child pornography on July 20, 2014 and July 22, 2014, and possessing child pornography between Aug. 21, 2010 and Dec. 10, 2014, on several computers and computer-related media. According to the indictment, the nine offenses were committed in Bernalillo County, N.M.
On Jan. 8, 2016, Lippke pled guilty to the seven possession of child pornography charges, and admitted possessing child pornography from Aug. 21, 2010 through Dec. 10, 2014.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the Homeland Security Investigations and the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General, with assistance from the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office. All are members of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mease as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
The case was brought as a part of the New Mexico ICAC Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico. There are 82 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement. This case was investigated by the ATF office in Albuquerque and APD.
The case was also prosecuted under a federal anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst" offenders for federal prosecution. Under this initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies work with New Mexico’s District Attorneys and state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to target violent or repeat offenders primarily based on their prior criminal convictions for federal prosecution with the goal of removing repeat offenders from communities in New Mexico for as long as possible. Because New Mexico’s violent crime rate, on a per capita basis, is one of the highest in the nation, New Mexico’s law enforcement community is collaborating to target repeat offenders from counties with the highest violent crime rates, including Bernalillo County, N.M., under this initiative.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
