Acting United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Michael Gonzalez, 44, formerly of Grand Island, Nebraska, was sentenced on April 9, 2021 in Lincoln, Nebraska, by Chief United States District Judge John M. Gerrard for possession of child pornography. Gonzalez was sentenced to 48 months in prison and will also serve 6 years on supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. After serving his prison sentence, Gonzalez will also be required to register as a sex offender.
In January 2016, the Nebraska State Patrol received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that a user, later identified to be Gonzalez, was uploading an image of child pornography.
A search warrant was served at Gonzalez’s residence and that search resulted in the seizure of numerous electronic items, including both a laptop and desktop computers, and a cell phone and other storage media. Law enforcement forensically examined the equipment and located 19 images of child pornography depicting children under the age of twelve.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, 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.justice.gov/psc.
This case was investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
