St. Petersburg Man Sentenced To 30 Years In Federal Prison For Child Enticement, Possession Of Child Pornography
On Friday, February 28, 2017, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara today sentenced 43 year-old Michael Joseph Armano of St. Petersburg to 30 years in federal prison for child enticement and possession of child pornography. As part of his sentence, the Court also ordered him to pay $72,415 in restitution.
Armano pleaded guilty on January 12, 2017.
According to court documents, Armano used fake social media accounts to pretend to be a child online. Through those accounts, he targeted at least 60 children on social media and convinced them to produce lewd and sexually explicit images of themselves and Livestream those images to him over the Internet. Additionally, according to testimony at sentencing, Armano possessed over 100,000 images of child pornography.
“Today’s sentencing ensures this criminal will never again be in a position of trust,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “This predator has abused children in ways that will affect them for their entire lives, but we hope this significant sentence can provide the innocent victims some amount of closure, while also serving as a grave warning to parents to be vigilant about their children’s online activities.”
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Gregory T. Nolan and Amanda Kaiser.
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 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 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.justice.gov/psc.
Source: USAO – Florida, Middle