Source: Office of United States Attorneys
ERIE, Pa. – A resident of Erie, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 12 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $48,000 to seven identified victims on his conviction of distributing and attempting to distribute material depicting the sexual exploitation of minors, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.
United States District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter imposed the sentence on Michael Paul Ambrose, 44, on January 10, 2025.
According to information presented to the Court, in and around November 2022, Ambrose distributed and attempted to distribute images depicting prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
U.S. Attorney Olshan commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Erie Police Department, and Erie County Detectives Bureau for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Ambrose.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice 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 (CEOS), 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.