CONCORD – A Maine man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Concord to cyberstalking an eight-year-old child, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young announces.
Michael Chick, age 40, pleaded guilty to cyberstalking. U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty scheduled sentencing for September 25, 2023. Chick was arrested on a criminal complaint in August 2022 and was indicted on September 6, 2022.
Chick, a former school bus driver, began stalking an eight-year-old child on his bus route at least as early as March 2022. Chick gave the victim candy and small toys, and asked for permission to attend the child’s sporting events. Later, Chick provided the victim with cell phones and instructed the child to call Chick when he was alone. Chick told the child lies about a secret organization that would kidnap and torture the victim and kill the child’s family if the child did not fulfill various demands, which Chick purported to be relaying to the victim on behalf of the organization. Chick traveled to the child’s home at night and photographed the inside of their home by peering through the windows. Chick also placed GPS trackers on both of the victim’s parents’ vehicles. A forensic examination of Chick’s cell phone revealed surreptitiously recorded images and videos of the child and their family at various public locations such as retail stores, theme parks, and sporting events.
The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Homeland Security Investigations led the federal investigation. Valuable assistance was provided by the Greenland Police Department, the Eliot Police Department in Maine, the Old Town Police Department in Maine, the New England State Police Information Network, the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Massachusetts State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kasey Weiland is prosecuting the case.
