News Releases

Piano teacher sentenced following child pornography charges

DETROIT - A man from Ann Arbor was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison for receiving child pornography following an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Michael Robertson, 43, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge David Lawson to 60 months in prison. The judge also ordered Robertson to serve a five-year term of supervised release, and he is required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence. Robertson pleaded guilty to the receiving child pornography charge on March 30.

"ICE is dedicated to protecting our children and neighborhoods from sexual predators," said Brian Moskowitz, special agent in charge of ICE HSI. "We will continue to aggressively pursue and hold accountable individuals involved in this vile behavior."

Robertson was employed as a security guard at local bars in and around Ann Arbor. He also taught private piano to children in Ann Arbor and Whitmore Lake.

ICE HSI agents executed a federal search warrant at Robertson's residence in last August, and found a computer disk drives and external hard disks which contained over 100 images of child pornography and approximately 16 child pornography movies. 

This investigation is part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.