United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

Project Safe Childhood: LAKESIDE MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHILD PORNOGRAPHY POSSESSION CHARGE

Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MICHAEL ANDERSON, 50, of the Lakeside section of Morris, Connecticut, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to one count of possession of child pornography.

According to court documents and statements made in court, ANDERSON possessed images of child pornography while on board a vessel in Somerset, Massachusetts and at his residence in Connecticut.  On August 15, 2006, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) special agents and Custom and Border Patrol inspectors conducted a border search of a vessel on which ANDERSON was working and located and seized seven CDs and a laptop computer from ANDERSON.  On August 18, 2006, ICE special agents and members of the Connecticut State Police executed a federal search warrant at ANDERSON’s residence and seized, among other items, two desktop computers.  Analysis of four CDs seized from the vessel and the two computers’ hard drives seized from ANDERSON’s residence revealed the existence of more than 600 images of child pornography, including images of children under the age of 12 engaged in sexual conduct and portraying sadistic and other depictions of violence.  When questioned by agents, ANDERSON admitted that he had downloaded these images onto his computer from the Internet at his residence.

Judge Underhill has scheduled sentencing for January 4, 2010, at which time ANDERSON faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

Following his guilty plea, ANDERSON was released on bond under conditions that include home confinement with electronic monitoring, no use of the Internet, and no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18 years of age.

This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Connecticut State Police.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter S. Jongbloed.

U.S. Attorney Dannehy noted that this prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov