Lebanon Man Arrested for Coercion and Enticement of Minor

DAYTON – Michael Kirkwood, 59, of Lebanon, Ohio, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with one count of coercion and enticement of a minor.

Benjamin C. Glassman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Marlon V. Miller, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations and Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer announced today’s initial appearance in court.

According to the criminal complaint and affidavit in this case, Internet Crimes Against Children investigators received a complaint that a 13-year-old female was receiving inappropriate messages via Facebook from Kirkwood. An undercover detective began communicating with Kirkwood, who engaged in sexually explicit conversation and agreed to meet with who he thought was the 13-year-old girl at the Dayton Mall at Victoria’s Secret on June 8.

Kirkwood was arrested upon entering the mall and agreed to be interviewed by law enforcement. He stated he had chatted online with approximately 20 other female girls around the age of 13 and that he received and possessed child pornography on his home computer. A search of his residence also uncovered four pair of youth female underwear that appeared to have evidence of soiling.

Coercion and enticement of a minor is a crime punishable by 10 years to life in prison.

Kirkwood is scheduled for a detention hearing at 1:30pm on June 16 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz.

If you have information related to this case, or believe you or others may have also been victimized by the same individual, please contact Detective Melanie Phelps with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 937-496-7191.

Acting U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and HSI, and Assistant United States Attorneys Alex R. Sistla and Andrew J. Hunt, who are prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint contains allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.