CONCORD- Michael Dukette, 31, of Nashua, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney John J. Farley announced today.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in June 2018, an individual reported potential child exploitation footage to the Hudson Police Department. The individual had loaned an iPhone to another person and after returning the woman found an email containing four videos showing Dukette masturbating while standing over a sleeping child. Dukette later admitted to police in voluntary interviews that he had made and kept the videos. Further investigation revealed that the child in the videos was five years old at the time the videos were made.
Dukette is currently due to be sentenced on August 23, 2022.
“Protecting children from exploitation is an important priority for the New Hampshire law enforcement community,” said U.S. Attorney Farley. “Thanks to the hard work of our law enforcement partners, this individual is held accountable for his troubling and unlawful conduct. We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify and prosecute those who commit crimes related to sexual abuse material.
“Cases like this underscore how critical the community is in our investigations. Without the assistance of the citizen who brought this material to the attention of law enforcement, evidence of this exploitation may have gone undetected and unreported,” said Matthew Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Office of Investigations for the internal security.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Hudson Police Department and the Nashua Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Anna Dronzek.
In February 2006, the Department of Justice launched the Safe Childhood Project, a national initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood brings together federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children through the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information on the Safe Childhood Project, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
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