© 2025 WNMU-FM
Upper Great Lakes News, Music, and Arts & Culture
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Chatham man sentenced to 135 months in prison for child pornography

MARQUETTE, MI— An Alger County man has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison on child pornography charges.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan says Brandon Earl Lavoy, 36, of Chatham was given 135 months for possession of child pornography.

The FBI discovered end-to-end encrypted messages between Lavoy and another person. The messages included two minors’ identifying information. Lavoy 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. They found a collection of child pornography.

The FBI investigated the case with help from the Michigan State Police.

Nicole was born near Detroit but has lived in the U.P. most of her life. She graduated from Marquette Senior High School and attended Michigan State and Northern Michigan Universities, graduating from NMU in 1993 with a degree in English.