WILMINGTON — Tony Michael Crisco, 35 years old, was sentenced July 16 to 26 to 37 years in prison by a county judge. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced July 22 Crisco was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III for the production and distribution of child pornography.
“This lengthy federal prison sentence makes one thing clear: anyone who exploits children will be found, prosecuted, and removed from society for a very long time. The FBI will relentlessly pursue predators and ensure they face the maximum consequences for harming a child,” FBI Special Agent in Charge in North Carolina, Reid Davis, said.
Crisco originally pleaded guilty to the charges on January 29 of this year. Authorities were first notified about his criminal activity in May 2023, when his mother alerted authorities in Citrus County, Florida about a video circulating online of Crisco sexually assaulting a 2 year old. Crisco lived in Wilmington at the time.
READ MORE: Wilmington man sentenced to 26-37 years for statutory rape
“This sick individual will no longer be able to harm those who cannot protect themselves. He preyed on vulnerable children by abusing and manipulating them to produce explicit content for his own gratification,” U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyles said. “This spider will now spin his web stuck behind cold steel bars.”
Law enforcement officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Wilmington Police Department and the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant and conducted an investigation on Crisco. The search yielded numerous images and videos of him sexually abusing a toddler. Officers also found conversations between him and a 14 year old girl, who sent Crisco explicit photographs after he groomed her; the two eventually met up, wherein they engaged in sexual intercourse. Crisco recorded the interaction and distributed the images and videos.
Officers found over 1,000 images and 348 videos of child pornography and sexual abuse material.
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