On May 7, 2025 The U.S. Department of Justice announced “results” of ‘Operation Restore Justice’ a “coordinated enforcement” operation to catch child sex offenders by the FBI.
205 arrests were made around the country, seven of which resulted in filed cases in the Western District of Washington: Michael L. Gershowitz CR24-039 is one of those seven cases. He plead guilty April 23, 2025 and is awaiting sentencing. Mr. Gershowitz would be a model “poster boy” for why the enforcement emphasis depicted by ‘Operation Restore Justice’ should exist.
Mr. Gershowitz, age 45, was already a registered sex offender at the time of his most recent activity. In December, 2022 and January 2023 Mr. Gershowitz went on the internet to access electronic service provider Snapchat’s platform to upload child pornography files. Snapchat reported this to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Mr. Gershowitz also uploaded to another provider, Stelvio, in February 2023. Stelvio also noticed NCMEC. Warrants issued to seize Mr. Gershowitz’s phones, and the contents of his Snapchat and Google accounts.
A plethora of videos and images were located in his phone. Mr. Gershowitz made admissions to the FBI concerning knowing about these videos and images, some of the content involving minors less than 12 years of age (a federal ‘increase’ factor). Other increase factors present were use of a computer to posses the content, and having more than 600 images. The uploading and discussion of file trading could have resulted in a more serious allegation of ‘dealing’ in child pornography.
Mr. Gershowitz’s criminal history included a charge of Attempted Child Molestation in the Third Degree, reduced to Communication with a Minor for Immoral Purposes, for which he had a sex offender registration requirement. A smaller city (Kirkland, WA) had investigated Mr. Gershowitz’s production company “Page 2 Stage Entertainment” for his production of the Wizard of Oz, as he displayed a pattern of interest on young employees and being around minors, including a foiled attempt to work at a local departments store as one of Santa’s helpers!
Due to Mr. Gershowitz’ seeking an early plea agreement and cooperating with the government, the United States’ Attorney’s office will recommend “no greater” term than 36 months of prison.
What never ceases to amaze this writer is that persons will upload content with no expectation that entities like Snapchat or Stelvio will not catch the upload and turn the uploader in for apparent illegal content. Mr. Gershowitz seemed oblivious to the risk involved with a company that gains nothing by failing to report suspicious content.