A Brandon man has been sentenced to over 16 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for attempted production of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
According to court records, on June 29, 2021, agents with the Jackson FBI received information that 36-year-old Michael E. Patton was producing images of child pornography in Brandon.
On March 4, 2022, FBI agents arrested Patton and found several images of child pornography on his cellular telephone. Patton had actively been uploading and sharing images of the illicit on the internet to receive more images.
Patton was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 22, 2022. He pled guilty on March 13, 2023, to attempted production of child pornography and possession of the content.
In addition to his term of imprisonment, Patton is ordered to pay $30,000 in court assessments. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.
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 U.S. 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.
