Lewiston Man Sentenced to Fifteen Years in Prison for Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Child

COEUR D'ALENE - Michael Benjamin Hendren, 35, of Lewiston, Idaho, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for attempted sexual exploitation of a child, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced today.

According to court records, as part of their efforts to combat exploitation of children online, investigators with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO) in Colorado ran undercover profiles pretending to be minors on a social media application in May of 2024. A user, later identified as Hendren, initiated contact with two separate undercover investigators at JCSO during this time. In both conversations, Hendren repeatedly solicited sexually explicit materials from the purported minors and sent them sexually explicit images of himself.

The same month, Hendren chatted on the same social media application with an investigator from the Evesham Township Police Department in New Jersey, who also maintained an undercover social media profile on the application to combat online child exploitation. In that chat, Hendren again attempted to persuade the purported minor to produce sexually explicit materials for him.

Hendren chatted with a fourth user, who was not an uncover law enforcement officer, on the same social media application. Hendren sent sexually explicit images of himself and attempted to persuade the user to produce sexually explicit images for him.

Following a thorough investigation, law enforcement identified the fourth user as a fifteen-year-old girl. They discovered that Hendren had engaged in sexually explicit conversations with several other purported children on the online messaging application.

Chief United States District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford ordered that Hendren be placed on supervised release for 10 years following completion of his prison sentence. Hendren will be required to register as a sex offender because of this conviction.

U.S. Attorney Davis commended the collaboration of the Lewiston Police Department, the Idaho State Police, the Moscow Police Department, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, the Evesham Township Police Department, the Nez Perce County Prosecutor's Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which led to the charges. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Johnson and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney April Smith prosecuted this case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General's Office partner to marshal federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

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