Alvin Resident Sentenced to Federal Prison for Child Pornography Offenses

GALVESTON, Texas - Michael Crisp Jr., a 33-year-old resident of Alvin, has been ordered to serve a lengthy prison term after being convicted of distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography. The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Crisp pleaded guilty to the charges on March 31, 2022. Today, Judge Jeffrey V. Brown handed down the sentence, ordering Crisp to serve 210 months for distributing and receiving child pornography and an additional 120 months for possessing it. The sentences will run concurrently, resulting in a total imprisonment term of 210 months. Prior to pronouncing the sentence, Judge Brown emphasized the gravity of child pornography crimes and noted that he had received more victim impact statements in this case than in any previous case before him.

In addition to the prison term, Crisp was ordered to pay a total of $136,500 in restitution to 42 identified victims. Furthermore, he will be subject to 10 years of supervised release after completing his prison term, during which he will be required to adhere to strict conditions aimed at restricting his access to children and the internet. Crisp will also be required to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Hamdani expressed strong condemnation of Crisp's actions, stating, "Crisp hoarded and traded files of child rape, suffering, and trauma as if they were some kind of collectors' item - to the order of tens of thousands. Today's sentence underscores that consumers of child pornography can and will be held accountable for how they fuel the demand for more and more images of children suffering unspeakable sexual abuse."

Special Agent in Charge James Smith of the FBI Houston Field Office emphasized the challenging nature of cases involving the sexual exploitation of children. Smith revealed that Crisp had taken pleasure from thousands of images and videos depicting sadistic sexual exploitation, torture, and abuse of children, including infants and toddlers. He stressed that Crisp's actions had perpetuated the victimization of the children depicted and highlighted the ongoing work of the FBI in combating such crimes.

The investigation into Crisp began when he imported a nine-minute video into his cloud storage account, which showed an adult woman sexually abusing a toddler. Subsequently, authorities discovered over 29,000 images and 6,500 videos of child pornography on multiple devices during the investigation. These images depicted young children in bondage, some of whom were under the age of five. In addition to possessing child pornography, Crisp used messaging applications to trade child sexual abuse material with others.

Following the sentencing, Crisp, who had been previously released on bond, was taken into custody. He will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility, which will be determined in the near future.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI with assistance from the Pearland Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Bauman prosecuted the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. PSC mobilizes federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children and to identify and rescue victims.