Michael Brian Grzybowicz, Child Pornography, Florida 2012

Michael Brian Grzybowicz, a 30-year-old man from Cocoa, Florida, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for producing and possessing child pornography. This sentence is a result of a federal jury’s guilty verdict in January 2012.

Grzybowicz’s crimes took place at Sea World, where he was asked to watch a 2-year-old girl and her 5-year-old brother while their parents rode a roller coaster. During this time, Grzybowicz molested the 2-year-old girl and took explicit photographs of her using his cell phone. He then emailed these pictures to his personal email address after leaving the park.

Two days later, Grzybowicz’s wife found one of the photographs on his cell phone and reported it to the Cocoa Police Department. A thorough investigation was conducted by the Child Exploitation Task Force for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Cocoa Police Department, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s Sex Crimes Unit.

Grzybowicz was arrested after providing a statement to a police detective. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Tanya Davis Wilson and Christopher LaForgia.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the government to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.

Grzybowicz was initially sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in June 2012, but he appealed the judgment in July 2012. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit vacated the conviction on distribution of child pornography and vacated the sentences on all counts in May 2014. The case was remanded back to the District Court for resentencing.

Grzybowicz will serve a lifetime term of supervision following his release from prison. This sentence is a testament to the government’s commitment to protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse.

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