Erie Resident Sentenced to 12.5 Years in Prison for Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A resident of Erie, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 150 months in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, on his conviction of possessing child sexual abuse material, United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

Chief United States District Judge Cathy Bissoon imposed the sentence on Michael Thomas Pritchard, 49, on July 23, 2026.

According to information presented to the Court, while on parole for a series of Pennsylvania child exploitation convictions, Pritchard was found to be in possession of hundreds of digital images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pennsylvania State Police, Erie Police Department, and Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Pritchard.

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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.