Utah Man Sentenced to 12 Years’ Imprisonment for Attempting to Receive Images of Child Sexual Abuse

ST. GEORGE, Utah –Todd Robert Michels, 54, of Washington City, Utah, was sentenced to 144 months’ imprisonment, and a lifetime of supervised release after he admitted that he attempted to receive images of child sexual abuse.

According to court documents and statements made at Michel’s change of plea and sentencing hearings, on November 3, 2023, Michels communicated via the internet with an individual he thought was the father of a seven-year-old boy. Michels was actually communicating with an undercover officer. During these communications, Michels said he wanted to sexually abuse the undercover officer’s seven-year-old son and that he had fantasized about such behavior for a long time. Michels also requested sexually explicit photographs of the child. The undercover officer and Michels ultimately agreed to meet for the purpose of Michels sexually assaulting the seven-year-old boy. Upon Michels’ arrival at the meeting location, he was taken into custody.

Acting United States Attorney Felice John Viti of the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case was investigated jointly by The FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations.

Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Burton of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.