Richboro Man Sentenced to Fifteen Years for Manufacturing Child Pornography and Enticement of a Minor

PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain announced that Michael Shore, 35, of Richboro, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 180 months in prison, lifetime supervised release, a prohibition on contact with any of his victims or their families, and a lifetime restriction on his Internet usage by United States District Court Judge Timothy R. Savage for manufacturing child pornography involving multiple victims, as well as enticing a minor to engage in illicit sexual conduct. His sentence also requires him to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law for the rest of his life.

In October 2017, Shore was convicted of manufacturing child pornography and exploitation of four minor victims on multiple occasions over a span of almost two years. At least two of his victims he met at Comic-Con, which is an annual entertainment and comic book convention held in San Diego, where he worked with his family. His victims included a 12-year old girl in the 6th grade, two teenaged girls, and one child who is on the autism spectrum. Shore corresponded with these girls online at all times of the day and night, and coerced them to self-produce sexually explicit images and send them to him. For one child, he then distributed her images out over the Internet – showing her face and naked body - in an effort to engage in sexual activity with yet another person online. After communicating at length with one of his victims, Shore traveled from Pennsylvania to Florida and engaged in sexual intercourse with her on multiple occasions.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was called in by local authorities after the 12-year old victim’s mother alerted police. A search warrant was executed on Shore’s home, and federal agents recovered more than 2,500 images of child pornography that Shore had downloaded and saved from the Internet over an eight year period. Shore confessed to the FBI on the day they searched his home, and later pleaded guilty to a 10-count federal indictment charging him with manufacturing, distributing, and possessing child pornography, as well as enticing a minor to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

“Michael Shore is a serial sexual predator who took advantage of some of the most vulnerable among us – young children, one of whom has autism. This criminal behavior is reprehensible,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “Further, at least one of these children will continue to be victimized for years to come because Shore shared explicit images of her on the Internet with others. Fortunately, he will now sit behind bars where he belongs for many years, unable to victimize anyone else in the meantime.”

“Child exploitation is among the most heinous crimes we investigate,” said Michael J. Driscoll, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia Division.  “Shore robbed these young girls of their innocence and childhood.  Although today’s sentence cannot repair the damage Shore caused, it sends the message to other predators that the FBI remains committed to hunting them down and holding them accountable.”

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Saint Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rotella.