An East Lansing man is sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of child pornography.
Sameer Paul Gadola, 23, asked minors for sexually explicit photographs and engaged them in sexual conversations on social media in 2016, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Michigan.
Gadola pled guilty to three counts of possessing child pornography. He will serve two concurrent sentences of six years for the first two counts and four years on the third count. The counts will be served consecutively.
Gadola is the son of Michael F. Gadola, a state Court of Appeals judge and MSU alumnus.
During sentencing, U.S. District Judge Janet Neff addressed Gadola as a sexual predator and “a danger to the community,” according to the press release.
Judge Neff added special assessments totaling $15,300. Upon Gadola’s release, he'll undergo a five-year period of supervision.
Judge Neff is the same judge who sentenced ex-MSU and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar to 60 years for child pornography in his federal trial. Both Nassar’s and Gadola’s cases were a part of Project Safe Childhood.
Project Safe Childhood combats child sexual exploitation by creating collaboration between local resources and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and U.S. Attorney’s Offices. The project works to help children who have been exploited online and identifies, arrests and prosecutes online predators to children.
The FBI investigated the case and the Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis Sanford prosecuted. Beyond the victims involved in the conviction, there was evidence of Gadola exploiting children online and in-person.
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