Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com.
Date: 06-08-2023
Case Style:
Case Number: 1:22-cr-00103
Judge: Landya McCafferty
Court: United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire (Merrimack County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office in Concord
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Concord, New Hampshire criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with cyberstalking an eight-year-old child.
Michael Chick, age 40, pleaded guilty to cyberstalking. Chick was arrested on a criminal complaint in August 2022 and was indicted on September 6, 2022.
Chick, a former school bus driver, began stalking an eight-year-old child on his bus route at least as early as March 2022. Chick gave the victim candy and small toys, and asked for permission to attend the child’s sporting events. Later, Chick provided the victim with cell phones and instructed the child to call Chick when he was alone. Chick told the child lies about a secret organization that would kidnap and torture the victim and kill the child’s family if the child did not fulfill various demands, which Chick purported to be relaying to the victim on behalf of the organization. Chick traveled to the child’s home at night and photographed the inside of their home by peering through the windows. Chick also placed GPS trackers on both of the victim’s parents’ vehicles. A forensic examination of Chick’s cell phone revealed surreptitiously recorded images and videos of the child and their family at various public locations such as retail stores, theme parks, and sporting events.
The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Homeland Security Investigations led the federal investigation. Valuable assistance was provided by the Greenland Police Department, the Eliot Police Department in Maine, the Old Town Police Department in Maine, the New England State Police Information Network, the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Massachusetts State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kasey Weiland is prosecuting the case.
18 U.S.C. §§ 2261A(2)(B), 2261(b)(5) and 2261B(a) Stalking of a Child Through Facilities of Interstate Commerce
(1)
Outcome: Defendant pled guilty.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: