Sentencing has been set for a former resident of a Detroit, Mich., residential reentry center convicted of his second federal child pornography offense.
Matthew Mercer-Kinser, 36, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison at sentencing, which will be held 9 a.m. June 29, according to a March 1 U.S. Department of Justice news release. Mercer-Kinser was found guilty by a federal jury March 1 before U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg for his second federal child pornography offense.
“Protecting children from dangerous predators is a top priority for our office,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in the release. “The actions of a concerned adult were crucial in bringing the crime in this case to the attention of law enforcement, and parents and other relatives need to be vigilant in watching out for signs of abuse or the exploitation of our kids.”
U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland sentenced Mercer-Kinser in June 2009 “to serve 151 months in custody for transporting child pornography,” according to the release. In July 2019, he was directed to serve the remaining months of the initial sentence in a Detroit residential reentry center, from which he reportedly “sent numerous sexually explicit text messages to a minor relative.” An adult reported Mercer-Kinser to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mercer-Kinser admitted his sexual fetish for children while testifying in his own defense during the trial that began Feb. 22, the release reported.
“This defendant’s repeat sexual offenses make him an extreme danger to our youth. Today’s guilty verdict is a step closer to ensuring Mercer-Kinser no longer has access to children in any way,” James Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, said in the release. “The combined efforts of the member agencies in the FBI’s Southeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Task Force continue to form a formidable barrier between predators and our children.”
