NEW ORLEANS — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), published as received.
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that MICHAEL PAUL PERRILLOUX, age 43, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Carl J. Barbier to Count Four of a four-count Indictment charging him with distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including prepubescent children, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2252(a)(2).
According to court documents, in about November 2020, Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) executed a search warrant at PERRILLOUX’s New Orleans-area residence after receiving a tip that PERRILLOUX had uploaded images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children to an online, cloud-based file storage account. Agents seized numerous electronic devices belonging to PERRILLOUX. A subsequent review of the devices revealed that between at least 2017 and 2020, PERRILLOUX uploaded images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children via a computer and the internet to one or more online, cloud-based file storage accounts under his control. PERRILLOUX obtained, uploaded, and catalogued thousands of digital files (i.e., images and videos) depicting the sexual exploitation of children. The Government would further establish through the introduction of forensic digital evidence that PERRILLOUX sometimes received payments in exchange for distributing depictions of his collection of CSAM by transmitting electronically a link to one of more of his online file storage accounts. Specifically, on or about September 10, 2018, PERRILLOUX received approximately $200 from Person 1 in exchange for PERRILLOUX providing Person 1 a link to an online file storage account under PERRILLOUX’s control that contained images and videos depicting CSAM.
Additionally, a review of PERRILLOUX’s electronic devices revealed that PERRILLOUX engaged in sexually suggestive online conversations with individuals, including minors, while pretending to be either a female or a younger male. During the conversations, PERRILLOUX requested that the minors either engage in sexually explicit conduct or take and send him sexually explicit pictures and videos.
PERRILLOUX faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five (5) years and a maximum term of imprisonment of twenty (20) years. PERRILLOUX also faces a lifetime of supervised release, up to a $250,000 fine, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee. PERRILLOUX can be required to register as a sex offender and may also be ordered to pay restitution to the victims of his crime. Sentencing has been scheduled before Judge Barbier for January 6, 2022.
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 Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg is in charge of the prosecution.
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