The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Michael Bonsignore, age 45, of Dingmans Ferry, Pike County, was sentenced Tuesday in Scranton by United States District Court Judge Edwin M Kosik to 300 months’ imprisonment and supervised release for life for producing child pornography.

     According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, Bonsignore was charged in May 2011 with producing videos and other images containing child pornography and then distributing them over the internet at various times between March 2007 through April 2011.

     The victims of the child pornography videos were discovered in Sweden and identified. A forensic examination of Bonsignore’s computer revealed additional images of alleged child pornography received and possessed by Bonsignore.

     Bonsignore pleaded guilty in February 2012.

     This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

     The charges against Bonsignore stemmed from an investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crimes Unit and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations(HSI), with the assistance of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

     Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Olshefski prosecuted the case.

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