MAN ADMITS ENTICING CHILDREN TO ENGAGE IN CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT

CAMDEN, New Jersey – A Deptford, New Jersey, man today admitted using a fake Facebook profile to entice children to produce sexually explicit images, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Michael J. Mostovlyan, 33, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb in Camden federal court to an information charging him with one count of online enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual conduct.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court: Mostovlyan admitted that, between Jan. 1, 2016 and June 2, 2016, he communicated with children online in order to obtain sexually explicit images of those children.

Using a fake female persona on Facebook in the name of “Amber Zee,” which he created using actual images of a girl, Mostovlyan was able to persuade the victims to send him sexually explicit photographs or videos.

The count to which Mostovlyan pleaded guilty carries a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison, a potential maximum term of life imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine. Mostovlyan must also register as a sex offender. Sentencing is scheduled for June 1, 2017.




U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction Special Agent in Charge Michael Harpster in Philadelphia; the Monroe Township Police Department under the direction of Chief Michael E. Lloyd; the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton; and the Deptford Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief William Hanstein, with the investigation leading to today’s plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin C. Danilewitz of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.