New Orleans man sentenced for distribution of child sexual abuse material
Published 6:54 am Friday, July 8, 2022
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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, was sentenced to 144 months imprisonment by United States District Judge Carl J. Barbier after previously pleading guilty 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). As part of the sentence, Judge Barbier further ordered PERRILLOUX to serve five (5) years of supervised release after his term of imprisonment, pay restitution to the victims in an amount to be determined on or before a hearing set for October 13, 2022, comply with sex offender registration requirements, and pay a mandatory $100 special assessment fee. Judge Barbier also ordered the forfeiture of several electronic items belonging to PERRILLOUX.
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. Additionally, 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.
Further, 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 saved the sexually explicit images one minor victim sent him with the victim’s consent.
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 was in charge of the prosecution.
