Southern Utah man sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted child sexual abuse

ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC4) — A Washington City man was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release after he admitted he tried to receive images of child sexual abuse.

Todd Robert Michels, 54, said in his plea and sentencing hearings in November 2023 that he had communicated online with someone that he thought to be the father of a seven-year-old boy, according to the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Utah.

In actuality, Michels was communicating with an undercover officer.

Throughout his communications, Michels said he wanted to sexually abuse the seven-year-old and he had thought about doing so for a long time. He also requested sexually explicit photos of the child.

The undercover officer and Michels agreed to meet for the “purpose of Michels sexually assaulting the seven-year-old boy.” When Michels arrived at the set meeting location, he was taken into custody.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations.