A federal judge sentenced a former star of the reality TV show “90 Day Fiancé” to 10 years and one month in prison on child pornography charges.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A former star of the reality TV show “90 Day Fiancé” pleaded for mercy moments before a federal judge sentenced him to slightly more than a decade in prison for downloading thousands of images of child pornography.
Michael Eloshway, 42, of Twinsburg, said he unknowingly downloaded the child pornography during large-batch downloads of adult pornography.
Eloshway said he sought large amounts of adult pornography while suffering from acute anxiety after he got into a bad car crash, his friend died by suicide and his sister was diagnosed with cancer. He said he deleted child pornography whenever he found it and called the videos “reprehensible.”
“I hate that I became a part of this,” Eloshway said. “It breaks my heart. I have a 5-year-old daughter who is my whole world. I never intended to see any of this.”
U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan sentenced Eloshway to 10 years and one month in prison, followed by 10 years of strict post-prison supervision that includes monitoring his computer activity. Eloshway will also have to register as a sex offender.
Gaughan said she found Eloshway’s crimes “vile and heinous” but handed down a sentence significantly less than then 17.5 to 20 years that federal sentencing guidelines recommended.
She also ordered Eloshway to pay $10,000 to a fund for human trafficking victims and $5,000 each to two victims depicted in the images he downloaded from February 2022 to March 2023 on a computer he had set up in his garage.
Gaughan said she went lower than the guidelines suggested because child-porn possession offenses often yield higher recommendations than other crimes that are equally or more serious, because Eloshway’s background includes no prior criminal history and because he passed a polygraph test in which Eloshway said he never had any intention of seeking out real children.
Gaughan allowed Eloshway to self-surrender to prison after Eloshway asked for one more Christmas with his daughter. The Bureau of Prisons will decide when he must start serving sentence.
A jury in June found Eloshway guilty of possession and receipt and distribution of child pornography. Eloshway testified in his own defense, and the jury returned its verdict in less than three hours. His defense attorney, Jay Milano, signaled his client intends to appeal.
Eloshway and his now-wife were featured in the first season of the TLC show that aired in 2014. The long-running show follows couples who apply for visas that allow foreign residents engaged to someone in the United States to travel here. They have 90 days to get married for the immigrant to become a permanent citizen.
Eloshway, who worked as an IT specialist for Cleveland Municipal Court at the time, ultimately married is wife, Aziza. He was 31 at the time, and she was 21.
Aziza Eloshway, who attended all three days of the trial and Tuesday’s sentencing, did not speak during the hearing. She wrote a letter to Gaughan that depicted her husband as a loving partner and a doting father who made a mistake.
“He is a rock to this family in so many ways, and this traumatic experience with his trial and the conviction has left us all shocked and heartbroken,” Aziza Eloshway wrote. “My family is being torn apart, and I know that he has been tortured by his feelings of guilt and regret for the irresponsible mistake that he’s made.”
Authorities began investigating Michael Eloshway in 2022 after seeing some 65,000 child pornography files downloaded and shared from his IP address.
FBI agents raided his home in March 2023, and a forensic examination found his computer contained 7,178 images and four videos of child pornography. Some 4,500 files showed sadism or masochism, prosecutors said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer King argued during the hearing for a sentence of 17.5 to 20 years in prison.
She said because Eloshway used peer-to-peer file sharing network BitTorrent, the files he downloaded could continue to be passed around the internet.
“From Mr. Eloshway’s garage, his mancave, he was able to receive and distribute, to spread the abuse and rape of children,” King said.
Adam Ferrise covers federal courts at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. You can find his work here.