45-Year-Old Louisiana Man Sentenced to 7+ Years For Possessing Videos Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of Children
New Orleans, Louisiana – A 45-year-old Louisiana man has been sentenced to more than seven years for possessing videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children.
On April 21, 2023, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Michael Gerald Marchese, age 45, a resident of Metairie, Louisiana, was sentenced on April 18, 2023, by United States District Judge Wendy Vitter to 87 months (7 years, 3 months) in prison after previously being indicted for receiving images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children, including children as young as approximately one year old, in violation of 18 U.S.C. ‘ 2252(a)(2).
Marchese was also ordered by Judge Vitter to serve a 10-year period of supervised release following his prison term, to comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, and to pay a mandated $100 special assessment charge. A restitution hearing has also been scheduled for June 14, 2023, by Judge Vitter.
According to court documents, law enforcement authorities received information in July 2021 that an unidentified individual, later identified as Marchese, was using an internet-based peer-to-peer network that allows users to anonymously share files, chat on message boards, and access websites within the network to view, download, and store computer files depicting child sexual victimization. On December 9, 2021, FBI officials executed a search warrant at Marchese’s home and seized multiple electronic items, including four portable external hard drives. A review of the materials found that Marchese downloaded depictions of children being sexually exploited several times throughout 2020 and 2021 using the internet and peer-to-peer platforms. Marchese also downloaded at least 4,201 images and 339 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, including prepubescent minors as young as one year old, and that some of the images and videos represented sadistic or masochistic behavior or other depictions of violence.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide campaign launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to tackle the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood, led by US Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. To learn more about Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
U.S. Attorney Evans applauded the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s work in investigating this case. The prosecution is led by Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg, Chief of the Public Integrity Unit.