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Press Release

Military Policeman from Lemoore Naval Air Station Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California

FRESNO, Calif. —Michael Brandon Kiper, 32, of Lemoore, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii to 15 years in prison for two counts of receiving child pornography, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Kiper, who had been assigned duties as a military policeman at the Lemoore Naval Air Station in California, and while on temporary assignments in Nevada and in Bahrain, used accounts on Kik Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook to solicit sexually explicit images of numerous minor females throughout the United States and Canada. Kiper used an alias and claimed to be an agent for a modeling agency. Once he convinced minor females to send him at least one sexually explicit image of themselves, he threatened to post those images to social media sites unless the victims produced and transmitted additional sexually explicit images. One minor female told her mother about her communications with Kiper, and they contacted law enforcement.

This case was the result of an investigation by a multitude of law enforcement agencies, spearheaded by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Upper Perk (Pennsylvania) Police Department, and the Paoli (Indiana) Police Department. Forensic analysis of evidence was conducted by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, which is part of the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Enos prosecuted this case.

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 those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about internet safety education.

Updated May 8, 2017

Topic
Project Safe Childhood
Press Release Number: 1:14-cr-137-AWI