BISMARCK - US Attorney Christopher C. Myers announced that on June 22, 2016, Michael Leroy Simmons Sr., 55, Butte, Montana, was sentenced before US District Judge Daniel L Hovland to serve 25 years in federal prison. After pleading guilty to two counts of an indictment charging him with Sexual Exploitation of Minors, Simmons was also sentenced to serve a lifetime of supervised release and must pay a $200 special assessment to the Crime Victims Fund.
From on or about July 1, 2011, until about March 31, 2013, Simmons used a camera to take sexually explicit photographs and videos of minors under the age of ten. In many of the photographs, Simmons touched the minors in order to take the photographs. That camera belonging to Simmons was discovered by a relative while visiting him in Butte, Mt., and the camera was turned over to the Butte Montana Police Department. Simmons, who is a registered sex offender, pled guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor on March 24, 2016.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department
Assistant US Attorney Brandi Russell prosecuted this case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)