Ohio Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison For Intersate Travel to Engage in a Sexual Act with a Child

            Fort Smith, Arkansas - Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Antoine Lebeux Michael, age 42, of New Boston, Ohio, was sentenced to 360 months in federal prison without the possibility of parole and lifetime supervised release for one count of Interstate Travel to Engage in A Sexual Act with a Child under the Age of 12 Years Aggravated Sexual Abuse with a Child.  The sentencing hearing took place before the Honorable P. K. Holmes, III in the United States District Court in Fort Smith.  

            According to court records, in July, 2015, an undercover officer with the Fort Smith Police Department entered an internet chat room using an online persona of a single mother of two children under the age of 10.  An individual in the chat room that identified himself as “Andy” made contact with the undercover officer stating that he liked young girls. During their chats, “Andy” detailed specific, graphic sexual acts that he wanted to engage in with the two children and the undercover officer, and even discussed his desire to impregnate the daughter once she was older so there would always be kids around.  “Andy” talked about not having to hide his “pics” that he had stored on encrypted hard drives from the undercover officer, and sent pictures of himself and described his truck to the undercover officer.  “Andy” and the undercover officer discussed him traveling from Ohio to meet the undercover officer and the two fictitious children, and they agreed to meet at a public place in Fort Smith.  On August 10, 2015, “Andy” arrived at the agreed location, he made contact with the undercover officer, they made small talk, and he then asked if they could go pick up the children.  Officers then moved in and arrested “Andy” who was subsequently identified as Antoine Michael. Officers recovered several phones, hard drives, a laptop, and a GPS from his vehicle.  Michael later waived his Miranda rights and made a statement admitting to traveling from Ohio to Arkansas for the purpose of engaging in sex acts with what he thought was a single mother and her two children.  Forensic analysis of the recovered GPS showed that Michael had traveled from Ohio to Arkansas.  He was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 28, 2015, and pleaded guilty to the charge on January 21, 2016.

            This case was investigated by the Fort Smith Police Department and the Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Aaron Jennen prosecuted the case for the United States.

            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 their Criminal Division Child Exploitation and Obscenity Sections (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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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Related court documents may be found on Public Access to Electronic Records Website @www.Pacer.gov