In San Antonio today, a federal jury convicted 44-year-old Jeffrey Clinton Michalik of possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney John F. Bash and Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Shane Folden, San Antonio Division.
Evidence presented at trial revealed that five images of child pornography were downloaded from a website in Switzerland using the defendant’s secure IP address assigned to his house. HSI agents executed a federal search warrant for child pornography at the defendant’s house. The defendant admitted viewing child pornography on a laptop computer and provided agents with consent to search that computer. The laptop computer contained over 2500 images and 112 videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The majority of the child pornography files depicted children under the age of 12, including children as young as three.
Michalik, who faces up to 20 years in federal prison, was placed into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service following the verdict. Sentencing is scheduled for 9:00am on December 9, 2019, before Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra.
HSI agents investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson is prosecuting this case on behalf of the Government.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
