Press Release
☷Retired Jacksonville School Teacher Pleads Guilty to Possessing Videos and Images Depicting the Sexual Abuse of Children
Federal Bureau of Investigation ( By Press Release office)
Apr 29,2022
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Retired Jacksonville School Teacher Pleads Guilty To Possessing Videos And Images Depicting The Sexual Abuse Of Children Jacksonville , Florida – United States Attorney Roger B . Handberg announced that Michael Paul Gillis ( 64 , Jacksonville ) has pleaded guilty to possessing computer media containing images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of young children . He faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a potential lifetime term of supervised release . Gillis was arrested by FBI agents on February 2 , 2022 , and has been detained since that time . His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled . According to court documents and information provided in open court , FBI agents were investigating individuals who were using a particular online file - sharing network to receive and share child pornography . The investigation revealed that Gillis , a retired public - school teacher , had accessed this network from his residence . On February 2 , 2022 , FBI agents executed a search warrant at Gillis’s home . Gillis , who was home at the time , admitted that he had been accessing child sexual abuse materials using the internet for at least the past 15 years , that he had viewed materials depicting children as young as 3 years old , and that he currently had “a couple hundred” contraband videos on his computer . Gillis also admitted that he viewed child sexual abuse materials while working as a teacher and would fantasize about touching children inappropriately but claimed that he never acted on it . During the execution of the search warrant , FBI personnel seized several computers belonging to Gillis that contained at least 2 , 000 images and 210 videos depicting infants , toddlers , and other young children being sexually abused . This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation . It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D . Rodney Brown . The forfeiture of assets is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Mai Tran . This is another case 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 , please visit www . justice . gov/psc .
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