East Lansing Man Receives 20-Year Sentence for Trading Child Pornography

GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Patrick Wiseman (33) of East Lansing, Michigan, was sentenced in federal court to a sentence of 20 years’ incarceration for trading in child pornography, U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles announced today. Wiseman was also sentenced to a lifetime term of supervised release. In sentencing Wiseman, Judge Janet Neff emphasized the need to protect the community.

Wiseman has a prior sex offense conviction in Florida for possession of child pornography in 2003 and served 30 months in prison. Wiseman came to the attention of law enforcement in 2011 when he was discovered sharing child pornography through the Internet. In July 2011, the FBI executed a search warrant on Wiseman’s home and seized his computer. While that investigation was pending, Wiseman purchased another computer and began sharing even more child pornography through the Internet. The FBI, along with Homeland Security Investigations-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (HSI-ICE), executed another search warrant on Wiseman’s home in March 2012. Wiseman’s computer was seized, and he was arrested and held in custody.

At Wiseman’s sentencing, Judge Neff expressed dismay and disgust at Wiseman’s collection of violent and brutal images of children being sexually assaulted. The investigation disclosed Wiseman’s chat communications, where he boasted that he sexually assaulted and beat children. Wiseman claimed that the chat communications were merely fantasies; however, Judge Neff found that his statements, even if fantasies, were true expressions of his desire to brutalize and sexually assault children and that he posed an extremely high risk to children.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the special agents of the FBI and HSI-ICE. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Y. Mekaru.