Gulfport Man Pleads Guilty to Accessing Child Pornography

Gulfport, Miss. – Michael Alex Miller, 19, of Gulfport, pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden to one count of accessing with intent to view visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Freeze with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In February 2019, the FBI received information that a specific Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with a Gulfport residence had previously accessed a website used to access child pornography. On February 8, 2019, agents went to that Gulfport address and Michael Alex Miller answered the door. Miller agreed to voluntarily speak with the agents who conducted a non-custodial interview with Miller.  Miller admitted to looking at child pornography on his Samsung S5 Cellular Telephone and viewing or accessing multiple images of the same. Forensic examination of Miller’s cellular devices confirmed Miller accessed multiple images of minors engaging in such conduct. A review of the images by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also confirmed that the images included known minors.  

Miller will be sentenced on Friday, July 26, 2019, at 9:30 a.m., before United States District Judge Sul Ozerden in Gulfport.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones.  It 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 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.