DETROIT (WWJ) -- A federal judge sentenced an Orion Township man to 15 years in prison for distributing child pornography after the illicit media was found on his phone along with conversations detailing the predator's previous assaults on minors.
Arron Robert Muhlitner, 27, had previously pleaded guilty to sending images of minors engaged in sexual acts to others in exchange for their pornographic photos. He exchanged these inappropriate pictures using Kik, a messaging app.
Muhlitner's disturbing behavior was discovered when a friend found child pornography and a conversation about sexually assaulting a minor on the convicted man's phone.
The phone was turned over to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and the FBI, who recovered 212 sexually explicit photos and 58 videos from the device. Detectives also identified several other instances where Muhlitner bragged about assaulting children or expressed a desire to engage in sex acts with kids.
"This person and his disgusting and abhorrent criminal behavior with children has rightfully been held accountable for his actions," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
The 15-year sentence was announced Friday in a press release from U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison and Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the FBI James A. Tarasca.
"Child pornography victimizes the most vulnerable and innocent in our community and protecting children from predators remains a critical mission for our office," stated U.S. Attorney Ison. "Our community is now safer with this defendant’s lengthy sentence."
"The significance of this sentence underscores the importance of keeping innocent children safe from dangerous predators and serves as a warning to those individuals who prey upon the most vulnerable in our society," said Tarasca.
Tarasca also thanked the FBI's law enforcement partners for their support and reiterated that the FBI will continue to dedicate resources to investigating and prosecuting sexual predators who target children.
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