Hanover man gets 15 years for role in worldwide porn ring

By Staff Reports

Published: January 7, 2009

-- A Mechanicsville man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in an international child-pornography ring.

Michael D. Berger had been set to go to trial this week, but he earlier pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Fla., to receiving child pornography, authorities said today.

He was sentenced Dec. 16.

Berger is one of 15 men indicted in federal court in connection with the worldwide pornography ring. Berger and seven other men have pleaded guilty to charges, and the other seven defendants are on trial this week.

Other suspects were arrested in Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom as part of the investigation.The FBI last year described the child exploitation ring as one of the most sophisticated groups of its kind that the bureau had ever seen. The group used encryption tools and trafficked in more than 400,000 images of child sex abuse, officials said.

Investigators took Berger into custody on Feb. 29 and seized more than 1,500 videotapes and DVDs from his home on Drawbridge Court in the Castlewood subdivision, along with children's undergarments and other items.

-- Reed Williams