New Orleans Man Charged With Transportation and Distribution of Files Depicting the Sexual Victimization of Children

 NEW ORLEANS –  U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that MICHAEL PAUL PERRILLOUX, age 42, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was arrested on October 16, 2020 after previously being charged by a federal grand jury in a four-count Indictment with transportation and distribution of images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children, in violation of 18 U.S.C. ' 2252(a)(1) and 2252(a)(2).  PERRILLOUX is charged with uploading such files to an online storage account on at least three dates between 2017 and 2018 (Counts 1 through 3).  He is also charged with distributing such files in September 2018 (Count 4).

PERRILLOUX faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five (5) years and a maximum term of imprisonment of twenty (20) years for each count.  PERRILLOUX also faces a lifetime of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and can be required to register as a sex offender.

U. S. Attorney Strasser reiterated that an indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

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 Strasser praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter, with support from the Orleans Parish Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg is in charge of the prosecution.