December 14, 2015

Greenville, Texas Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Attempting to Entice an Individual He Believed to be a 15-Year-Old Female to Engage in Sexual Activity

DALLAS—Michael Henry Shahan, 32, of Greenville, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 10 years in federal prison, following his guilty plea in September 2015 to one count of attempted enticement of a minor, announced John Parker, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

According to documents filed in the case, in November 2015, an officer with the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office who was working online in an undercover capacity posing as a 15-year-old female encountered an individual who was later identified as Shahan. During their ensuing chats over a two-month period, Shahan sent the girl, whom he knew was 15-years-old, sexually explicit nude photographs of himself and insisted he wanted to meet her and engage in sexual activity with her. Their mid-January 2015 planned meeting was thwarted when Shahan’s wife did not stay home from work as expected and make available what was then the couple’s only car. The officer obtained an arrest warrant and Shahan was arrested soon thereafter. Shahan had images of child pornography on his cell phone as well as numerous chats about the contents of traded child pornography.

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, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Hopkins County Sheriff Office investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks was in charge of the prosecution.