Westmoreland County Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Collecting, Trading Child Pornography

PITTSBURGH—A resident of Penn, Pennsylvania was sentenced in federal court on Jan. 6, 2011, to 10 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release on his conviction for collecting child pornography, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

United States District Senior Judge Maurice B. Cohill imposed the sentence on Michael Wise, 41.

According to information presented to the court, Wise collected and traded images of prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including images of sado-masochism. Evidence was also presented that Wise had also engaged in a pattern of conduct of sexual abuse and exploitation of a minor child, which included producing sexually explicit photographs of a minor and other unlawful sexual contact.

Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Cohill commented that in committing a “terrible crime,” the defendant’s victims included the real, live victim against whom he offended, as well as the children victimized in the images that he possessed.

Assistant United States Attorney Soo C. Song prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Westmoreland County Detectives Bureau and Greensburg Police Department, together with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Wise.