Omaha Man Sentenced to Six Years on Child Pornography Charges

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Michael L. Abraham, age 47 of Omaha, was sentenced in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska, for receiving and distributing child pornography. The Honorable John M. Gerrard sentenced Abraham to the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons for six years. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, Abraham will begin a seven-year term of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender.

The sentencing stemmed from an undercover investigation by officers of the Nebraska State Patrol and the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force. Officers discovered child pornography being shared online from an IP address assigned to Abraham’s home. On September 21, 2012, a search warrant was obtained for Abraham’s computer. A forensic review of the computer media revealed more than 100 videos and in excess of 50,000 images of child pornography and child erotica.

This case 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 United States 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.justice.gov/psc.

This matter was investigated by the Omaha FBI’s Cyber Crime Task Force (CCTF), of which the Nebraska State Patrol is a partner. The Omaha CCTF is a multi-jurisdictional task force consisting of 11 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies from Nebraska and Iowa. The mission of the Omaha CCTF is to investigate and apprehend high technology criminals and to protect our communities by preventing high technology crime and national security threats involving computers and computer networks. The Omaha CCTF was established on the premise that the capabilities of law enforcement agencies to investigate computer and high technology related crimes are enhanced in a task force setting involving the sharing of resources and expertise.