Michael Van Eekhout, Child Pornography, Maine 2015

Michael Van Eekhout, 51, of Westbrook, Maine, has been sentenced to nine years in prison and five years of supervised release for transporting child pornography and transmitting an extortionate threat.

A U.S. District Court judge handed down the sentence to Van Eekhout on January 21, 2015, according to court records.

Van Eekhout pleaded guilty to the charges on January 21, 2015. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

According to court records, in late 2011, Van Eekhout, posing online under an assumed name, persuaded a woman to send him nude photographs of herself. He then told her that he would widely disseminate the photos unless she took explicit photos of herself and sent them to him.

When she did so, he posted the photos online. In April 2012, he threatened to continue doing so unless she sent him more explicit photos.

In June 2014, Van Eekhout, posing as the woman, sent an undercover federal agent a digital photograph of a naked pre-pubescent female. The next month, he was interviewed during the execution of a search warrant at his Westbrook home and admitted that he had sent the photograph and had pretended to be the woman.

“Child predators are finding more and more that anonymity in their online activities is a false notion,” said Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge for HSI Boston. “HSI will continue to use our unique authorities and expertise to find these predators despite their best efforts to hide their true identities.”

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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