Durant Resident Sentenced To 15 Years For Sexual Exploitation Of A Child

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Micheal Shane Burch, age 33, of Durant, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 180 months in prison for one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Child/Use of a Child to Produce a Visual Depiction.

The charges arose from investigations by the Choctaw Nation Lighthorse Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On September 19, 2023, Burch pleaded guilty to the charge.  According to investigators, law enforcement discovered nude photos of a minor on Burch’s phone after the child’s parents filed a complaint about Burch behaving suspiciously.  Law enforcement questioned Burch, who consented to a search of his phone and admitted to taking the images found on it.  The crime occurred in Bryan County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Keith Starrett, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing in Muskogee.  Burch will remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorneys Morgan Muzljakovich and Jessica Bove represented the United States.