Cumberland man convicted on child pornography charges
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Cumberland man admitted to the production, distribution, and possession of child pornography on Tuesday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island said 21-year-old Michel Rodrigues pleaded guilty to a multitude of charges, including those related to videos he created while molesting two prepubescent girls.
Rodrigues was convicted on two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor/producing child pornography and one count each of distribution of child pornography and possession of and accessing child pornography.
Officials said the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force was informed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in July 2023 that a Twitter account belonging to Rodrigues was used for distributing child sexual abuse media.
A review of the files by the ICAC Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations determined the files were self-produced and involved six and seven-year-old females with whom Rodrigues contacted.
On July 22, 2023, authorities executed a court-authorized search of Rodrigues’ residence, discovering both images and video files of child pornography on a cellphone owned by Rodrigues.
Rodrigues is scheduled to be sentenced on July 16 and faces statutory penalties totaling between 15 and 100 years of incarceration, according to the Attorney’s Office.
