Metairie Man Sentenced to 87 Months in Federal Prison for Receiving Files Depicting the Sexual Victimization of Children

U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that MICHAEL GERALD MARCHESE, age 45, a resident of Metairie, Louisiana, was sentenced on April 18, 2023 by United States District Judge Wendy Vitter to 87 months in prison after previously being indicted for receiving images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children, including children as young as approximately one (1) year old, in violation of 18 U.S.C. ' 2252(a)(2).

Additionally, Judge Vitter ordered MARCHESE to serve a 10-year period of supervised release after his term of imprisonment, comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, and pay a mandatory $100 special assessment fee. Judge Vitter also scheduled a restitution hearing for June 14, 2023.

According to court documents, in about July 2021, law enforcement authorities received information that an unidentified individual, subsequently determined to be MARCHESE, was using an internet-based peer-to-peer network that allows users to anonymously share files, chat on message boards, and access websites within the network, to view, download, and store computer files depicting the sexual victimization of children. FBI agents executed a search warrant on MARCHESE’S residence on December 9, 2021, and seized several electronic items, including four (4) portable external hard drives. A review of the items revealed that MARCHESE used the internet and peer-to-peer platforms to download depictions of children being sexually exploited numerous times throughout 2020 and 2021. The review further confirmed that MARCHESE downloaded at least approximately 4,201 images and 339 videos depicting the sexual victimization of children, including prepubescent minors as young as less than one (1) year old, and that some of the images and videos portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence.

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 United States Attorneys= Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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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U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg, Chief of the Public Integrity Unit, is in charge of the prosecution.