MARQUETTE — An Upper Peninsula man will be serving a term in federal prison on a child pornography charge.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten said Brandon Earl Lavoy, 36, of Chatham was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison for possession of child pornography. “The sexual exploitation of children is reprehensible,” said Totten. “Mr. Lavoy is a sexual predator whose egregious plan to ‘get a minor raped’ was thankfully thwarted by FBI agents. My office will not waver in our commitment to working with law enforcement partners to ensure that sexual predators who exploit our children are brought to justice.”

Lavoy came to law enforcement’s attention after the FBI discovered end-to-end encrypted messages between Lavoy and another person. In those messages, Lavoy provided two minors’ identifying information and told the other person he was looking to get one of the minors “raped.”

The FBI traced the messages back to Lavoy and executed a search warrant on his phone and computer, where investigators found Lavoy’s collection of child pornography.

The FBI investigated the case, with assistance from the Michigan State Police.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office; county prosecutor’s offices; the Internet Crimes Against Children task force; and federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement are working closely together to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. The partners in Project Safe Childhood work to educate local communities about the dangers of online child exploitation and to teach children how to protect themselves.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Individuals with information or concerns about possible child exploitation should contact local law enforcement officials.