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NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that MICHAEL PAUL

PERRILLOUX, age 43, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, pleaded guilty today before United

States District Judge Carl J. Barbier to Count Four of a four-count Indictment charging him with

distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including prepubescent children, in violation

of 18 U.S.C. 2252(a)(2).

 

According to court documents, in about November 2020, Special Agents with the Federal Bureau

of Investigation (“FBI”) executed a search warrant at PERRILLOUX’s New Orleans-area

residence after receiving a tip that PERRILLOUX had uploaded images and videos depicting the

sexual exploitation of children to an online, cloud-based file storage account. Agents seized

numerous electronic devices belonging to PERRILLOUX. A subsequent review of the devices

revealed that between at least 2017 and 2020, PERRILLOUX uploaded images and videos

depicting the sexual exploitation of children via a computer and the internet to one or more online,

cloud-based file storage accounts under his control. PERRILLOUX obtained, uploaded, and

catalogued thousands of digital files (i.e., images and videos) depicting the sexual exploitation of

children. The Government would further establish through the introduction of forensic digital

evidence that PERRILLOUX sometimes received payments in exchange for distributing

depictions of his collection of CSAM by transmitting electronically a link to one of more of his

online file storage accounts. Specifically, on or about September 10, 2018, PERRILLOUX

received approximately $200 from Person 1 in exchange for PERRILLOUX providing Person 1

a link to an online file storage account under PERRILLOUX’s control that contained images and

videos depicting CSAM.

 

Additionally, a review of PERRILLOUX’s electronic devices revealed that PERRILLOUX

engaged in sexually suggestive online conversations with individuals, including minors, while

pretending to be either a female or a younger male. During the conversations, PERRILLOUX

requested that the minors either engage in sexually explicit conduct or take and send him sexually

explicit pictures and videos.

 

PERRILLOUX faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five (5) years and a

maximum term of imprisonment of twenty (20) years. PERRILLOUX also faces a lifetime of

supervised release, up to a $250,000 fine, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.

PERRILLOUX can be required to register as a sex offender and may also be ordered to pay

restitution to the victims of his crime. Sentencing has been scheduled before Judge Barbier for

January 6, 2022.

 

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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

 

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this

matter. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg is in charge of the prosecution.

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