Duvall, Washington, man sentenced to ten years in prison for trying to sexually exploit 11-year-old child

Seattle – A Duvall, Washington, man was sentenced today to ten years in prison for attempted enticement of a minor, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Steven Michael Burke, 37, was awaiting sentencing for possession and distribution of images of child sexual abuse, when he used an internet chat site to try to obtain sexually explicit images of an 11-year-old child. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez imposed twenty years of supervised release to follow prison, saying, “one of [a judge’s] primary concerns is community protection… the protection of children I hold at the highest level of all.”

Burke pleaded guilty in September 2023, admitting that, while he was awaiting sentencing for possessing images of child sexual abuse, he reached out to the 11-year-old child seeking sexually explicit images. Burke also sent the child such images. The crime was discovered after Burke was sentenced to probation for the earlier criminal conduct. 

In asking for the ten-year sentence, Assistant United States Attorney Cecelia Gregson wrote to the court, “His actions are unconscionable. Not only because of the harm he has undeniably caused this child victim as detailed in her statement and not only because the defendant himself is a father of four, but because the defendant was facing the full force of federal prosecution and was still unable to curb his appetite for child exploitation material.”

Burke has been in custody since his arrest on May 4, 2023.

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Cecelia Gregson and Special Assistant United States Attorney Laura Harmon.