Michael S. Chandler, 51, of Muldrow, has been sentenced to 210 months in prison and lifetime supervised release, according to a press release issued last week by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma in Muskogee.
Chandler was charged with one count of receipt of certain material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of possession of certain material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor.
The charges arose following an investigation by the Sequoyah County Sheriff ’s Office, Muldrow Police Department, Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Chandler was indicted on Aug. 9, 2023, and pleaded guilty to the charges on Dec. 21, 2023.
According to investigators, in spring 2023, Chandler was arrested on a warrant issued by the Cherokee Nation Tribal Court. At the time of the arrest, Chandler was in possession of multiple cell phones. A subsequent search of the phones revealed that Chandler knowingly received and stored over 40 videos and images of child sexual abuse from the internet.
The Honorable William P. Johnson, Chief U.S. District Judge of the United States District Court for New Mexico, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing.
Chandler will remain in the custody of U.S. Marshals pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.
Assistant United States Attorneys Sarah McAmis and Jessie Pippin represented the United States.
“This case is an excellent example of the interagency cooperation taking place in the Eastern District of Oklahoma,” said United States Attorney Christopher J. Wilson. “Thanks to the collaborative work of local, Tribal, and federal law enforcement agents and prosecutors, Chandler was identified and successfully prosecuted for his role in perpetuating the victimization of children subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse.”
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, 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, visit www. justice.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, visit www.justice. gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
Project Safe Childhood encourages anyone who suspects or has information regarding child sexual exploitation, trafficking of minors, sextortion, child pornography, or any other means of child exploitation to immediately contact law enforcement, report it on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)’s website at www.cybertipline. com, call 1-800–843-5678, contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), or call 877-4-HSI TIP.
