Cedar Hill man sentenced to 72 months in federal prison on child porn conviction

DALLAS — A 32-year-old Cedar Hill, Texas man, Michael Stratton, who pleaded guilty in June 2014 to an Information charging one count of receipt of child pornography, was sentenced Wednesday morning by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade to 72 months in federal prison. The announcement was made Wednesday by John Parker, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Stratton was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on April 22, 2015.

According to documents filed in the case, the investigation began in October 2013 while a detective with the Sherman, Texas, Police Department was investigating individuals using a specific file-sharing program and the internet to receive and distribute child pornography.

The investigation linked Stratton to a computer that had made available to share images and videos of child pornography. Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed a search warrant at Stratton's home and seized a laptop computer, camera, hard drives and a thumb drive.

Stratton admitted that he had been using the file-sharing network to view and download images and videos of child pornography since 2009. He further admitted that his collection was mostly of prepubescent children.

An analysis revealed more than 180 videos and 20 images of child pornography on Stratton's computer, hard drives and thumb drive. Included in the collection were nine videos of sado-masochistic conduct and at least one depicting infants or toddlers.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about Internet safety education, visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab "resources."

ICE HSI and the Sherman Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks prosecuted.