'90 Day Fiance' Season 1 alum Michael Eloshway faces 20 years in prison after guilty verdict in horror case
CLEVELAND, OHIO: Star of Season 1 of '90 Day Fiancé', Michael Eloshway, was found guilty of many charges of possessing child pornography, including having at least one image of a child under the age of twelve. On July 22, Michael's trial began in a Cleveland District Court, and on July 24, the jury returned guilty convictions.
Michael was found guilty of one count each of receiving and distributing visual depictions of actual minors engaging in sexually explicit behavior, as well as possessing child pornography.
The court document states, "Defendant is referred to Pretrial/Probation for preparation of a Presentence Investigation Report." The scheduled sentencing date is October 29, 2024, at 11:30 am.
Michael may spend anywhere from 17 years and 5 months to 20 years behind bars, according to Cleveland.com.
What are the charges against '90 Day Fiance' Season 1 alum Michael Eloshway?
In June 2023, Michael was charged with one count of possessing child pornography and one count of receiving and disseminating visuals depicting actual minors engaging in sexually explicit behavior. Regarding the particular charges against Michael, there was very little information in the case's early files, such as the indictment.
Federal prosecutors released information regarding their investigation in a new court document in June. In an effort "to track Internet Protocol (IP) addresses suspected of trading Child Se*ual Abu$e Material (CSAM) via BitTorrent," federal agents were conducting inquiries in March 2023.
Michael's IP address "engaged in the receipt, possession, and distribution" of CSAM between February 13, 2022, and March 8, 2023, according to the tracking service that the investigators employed.
"On March 27, 2023, Eloshway’s IP address again was identified receiving and sharing parts of files known to be CSAM. During this time, Eloshway’s IP address received or transmitted approximately 63,439 files, of which, approximately 9,541 files were determined to be severe files. Of the files shared and downloaded, approximately 4,517 contained sad*sm and mas0chism."
A search warrant was carried out by federal officials at Michael's residence in Twinsburg, Ohio. One of the gadgets found during the investigation was a black desktop computer made by HP.
'90 Day Fiance' alum Michael Eloshway admits to owning child pornography
After being informed of his rights by agents, Michael agreed to an interview. Michael said in the interview that the HP PC "contained child pornography."
More on Michael's filing-based "confession": "Eloshway admitted he knew how BitTorrent worked and had been using it for 20 years. He stated he downloaded large batches of p0rnography from BitTorrent and those batches contained child p0rnography. He stated he would delete the child p0rnography that would be downloaded in batches. Eloshway admitted the recent child p0rnography he downloaded had not been deleted and would be in his downloads folder on his computer."
"Eloshway, via BitTorrent, distributed 62 files CSAM (five videos and 57 images) directly to law enforcement. The black HP desktop computer that Eloshway admitted to storing child p0rnography on was analyzed and contained 7,182 unique files of CSAM (four videos and the remaining images)."
Prosecution lays heavy charges on '90 Day Fiance' alum Michael Eloshway
In the court document, the prosecution presented their case against Michael in detail. Excerpts with citations omitted are shown below:
Mens rea of knowledge is necessary for the first element of counts one and two of the accusation. When the government presents evidence that shows:
(1) The accused admitted that he was aware of child pornography on his computer.
(2) He claimed that any child pornography that was on his computer belonged to him.
(3) He set up a file-sharing application on that machine.
(4) He was aware that others would have access to the files in his file-sharing folder.
(5) Child pornography was found in the fifth file-sharing folder, and
(6) The evidence is adequate to warrant a conviction, as the investigator was able to view photos of child pornography from the defendant's computer using file-sharing software.
The jury instructions do not define dispersion, but evidence that aligns with the word's common definition suffices. In particular, evidence demonstrating that the defendant kept child pornography in a shared folder, understood doing so would allow others to download it, and another person actually downloaded it is sufficient to establish a conviction for distribution under 18 USC § 2252(a)(2).
Michael is aware that the material he obtained, held, and shared contained child pornography. In an interview, Michael said that he was aware of child pornography on his computer.
He said that the child pornography was discovered on his computer, which he had BitTorrent installed as a file-sharing application. Given that he claimed to understand how BitTorrent operated and had been using it for 20 years, Michael understood that files in his file-sharing folder would be shared with others.
Child pornography was found in the file-sharing folder, and eventually, the defendant's computer's file-sharing software allowed police enforcement to view the photographs of the pornography.
'90 Day Fiance' alum Michael Eloshway's defense lawyer calls prosecutor's evidence insufficient
In a trial brief submitted on July 23, Michael's lawyer, Jay Milano, said the prosecution's evidence was insufficient to convict:
"It is the position of Mr Eloshway that it cannot be proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he 'Knowingly' possessed or distributed child p0rnography."
"His internet search requests were generic. The contraband came as unindexed parts of 'torrents/floods' of data. The contraband was delivered among a small number 'torrents/floods' over time. Those torrent/floods were but a small percentage of total searches over the same period. When discovered, he deleted them."
"Other than the possibility of Mr Eloshway testifying, the defense will call no other witnesses."
