Sex Offender Sentenced to 26 Years for Child Sexual Exploitation

Anchorage, Alaska - U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a Connecticut man was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage for advertising and distributing child pornography in Alaska. Michael J. Carroll, 59, was sentenced to 26 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release. Carroll, using social networking tools and emails, advertised that he was seeking and offering to exchange, distribute and receive child pornography, and actually distributed child pornography to an email group of 48 users.

Carroll, from Milford, Connecticut, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline, to 312 months (26 years) in prison.  Chief Judge Beistline also sentenced Carroll to serve a lifetime term of supervised release, with specific conditions to register as a sex offender, to have no unsupervised contact with any person under the age of 18, and to participate in sex offender assessment and treatment.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Sayers-Fay, Carroll was convicted in Federal court in Anchorage on February 6, 2014, after a four-day jury trial, for one count of Advertising Child Pornography and two counts of Distributing Child Pornography.  Trial evidence demonstrated that in late 2011, Carroll offered to trade sexually explicit images of children with other users involved in an international email group that an undercover agent in Alaska had infiltrated. Carroll also distributed close to 100 sexually explicit images on two occasions to the approximately fifty persons in this same email group, including the Alaskan undercover agent. The sexually explicit images of children that Carroll distributed involved victims ranging from elementary school-aged children to toddlers and infants.  Other offenders in the same email group were previously prosecuted in Alaska.

At trial, Carroll argued that remote control of his computer via “hacking” explained both the presence of hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on his multiple computers, as well as the distribution of child pornography from his Yahoo! email address. Carroll testified that he was a highly skilled computer technician with a very sophisticated network, and that despite this, hackers were able to cause his email to send messages reflecting the Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to his home, and were also able to populate his computer system with sexually explicit images of children organized in a plethora of conspicuously named folders. Carroll likened his experience to that of Target, the retailer whose data was harvested by hackers. In convicting the defendant, the jury rejected the assertion that someone else was responsible for these crimes.

In sentencing Carroll, Chief Judge Beistline noted that Carroll was a “sociopathic pedophile, a pathological liar and a narcissist” with a “lifelong history” of abusing vulnerable victims.  The Court also remarked that the victims Carroll viewed are real children with hopes and dreams.   They are innocents, susceptible to manipulation, whose lives are scarred forever by these crimes.  As Chief Judge Beistline observed, “Children are messages we send to a world we will not see.”   

In imposing his sentence, Chief Judge Beistline observed that Carroll lied to the jury during the trial, oblivious to the fact that his testimony was ludicrous.  The judge noted that the trial and presentence investigation revealed Carroll’s true character and a string of past abuses.  The court also considered that Carroll had no ability to admit his crimes and had no remorse for them, leading Chief Judge Beistline to conclude that rehabilitation for Carroll was unlikely.  Finally, Chief Judge Beistline disabused Carroll of his notion that he had a First Amendment right to review child pornography to satiate his “curiosity.”

In addition to the 100 images he emailed to 48 people, Carroll’s multiple computers contained about 2000 images and 340 videos of child pornography. A dozen child victims were identified in those images, and eleven victims submitted letters describing the serious harms they had suffered as the result of being sexually exploited.  Chief Judge Beistline acknowledged those harms and the seriousness of child pornography crimes when he sentenced Carroll to the 26 year prison sentence, followed by supervised release for the rest of Carroll’s life.

Commenting on the sentence, United States Attorney Karen L. Loeffler stated, “Protecting our children from predators such as Mr. Carroll is a priority mission.  Every child depicted in these media had their childhood stolen and is victimized by every repeated viewing by those who would exploit children for personal benefit.  Modern communications add much benefit to many facets of our daily personal and professional lives, but we will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement agencies as well as private and public partners in fighting against these pernicious crimes.   

  Ms. Loeffler commends Homeland Security Investigations in Alaska and Connecticut, the Alaska Bureau of Investigation and the Anchorage Police Department for their extensive investigation of this case, and acknowledges their persistent dedication to rescuing child victims from sexual exploitation, and pursuing the sexual predators who harm children.