Michael Eloshway, who was featured alongside now-wife Aziza Eloshway on the first season of 90 Day Fiance, has been found guilty of two charges of child pornography and is facing up to 20 years behind bars.
Following a three-day trial, a jury determined that Michael, 42, had possessed, received, and distributed child pornography after a hearing that lasted less than two hours.
According to a July 25 report from Cleveland.com, Michael did not show much emotion as the jury ruled against him. Instead, it was his wife, Aziza, who dipped her head, and his mom, who began to cry.
Aziza and Mike Eloshway
The ruling came weeks after Michael rejected a plea agreement, which would have seen him face 15 years and seven months in prison.
As the outlet stated, the FBI began looking into Michael’s online behavior in 2022, when 65,000 child pornography files were reportedly downloaded and shared from an IP address belonging to him. And, in May 2023, they raided his Ohio home and found several thousand files on a computer in his garage.
That same day, Michael admitted to using BitTorrent to download pornography after searching for “teen porn.”
“He’s addicted to pornography and he had 8,000 child pornography files on his computer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Dangelo said. “He knew they were there.”
90 Day Fiance Mike and Aziza Update
Michael also was said to have claimed he began watching porn amid personal struggles, including a car accident and a friend’s suicide. However, he insisted he only sought out adult talent, although he noted that he received thousands of files through the sharing feature on BitTorrent.
If Michael found something he didn’t like, such as child pornography, he claimed he deleted it immediately.
“I can’t describe how much I hated seeing those images,” he said.
Following his initial admission of possessing child pornography, Michael claimed he was pressured into signing the confession and that the FBI had intimated him with threats of having his daughter, 5-year-old Olivia, taken away.
“My only concern was being able to see my daughter again,” he said. “It was a crazy day, my heart was still racing, and I was under investigation for something I never meant to do. But I was worried I would never see my daughter again.”
During his time on 90 Day Fiance, Michael was working for the Cleveland Municipal Court as an IT specialist.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan is set to sentence Michael for his crimes on October 29. Until then, he will remain free on bond.