Luzerne County Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Receiving and Distributing Child Pornography

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 39-year-old former Luzerne Borough resident who admitted to receiving and distributing child pornography during 2012 through June 2013 was sentenced today to serve 15 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion.

According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, the defendant, Michael Shaw, pleaded guilty to the crime on October 23, 2013.

Shaw was indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2013 for using a computer to receive and distribute child pornography.

The charge against Shaw resulted from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Lackawanna County Detectives, and the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office.

Judge Mannion also ordered that Shaw be placed on supervised release for 10 years following his prison sentence. Shaw must also receive sex offender treatment and abide by sex offender registration requirements after his release from prison.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.