Louisiana Man Pleads Guilty to Receiving More Than 4,500 Files Depicting the Sexual Victimization of Children

New Orleans, Louisiana – On November 10, 2022, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Michael Gerald Marchese, age 45, a resident of Metairie, Louisiana, pleaded guilty on November 8, 2022, before United States District Judge Wendy Vitter after previously being charged in a one-count indictment with 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).

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 many electronic devices, including four portable external hard drives. An investigation of the items revealed that Marchese downloaded images of sexually exploited minors from the internet and peer-to-peer platforms several times in 2020 and 2021. Marchese also downloaded at least 4,201 photographs and 339 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, including prepubescent children as young as one year old, and that some of the images and videos represented sadistic or masochistic behavior or other depictions of violence.

Marchese faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. Marchese also faces lifetime supervised release, a $250,000 fine, an obligatory $100 special assessment charge, and the requirement to register as a sex offender. The sentencing hearing before Judge Vitter is set for February 14, 2023, at 1:00 p.m.

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 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. It is led by US Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). 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.