United States Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent In Charge Grant Mendenhall in coordination with LaPorte County Prosecutor John Lake announced that 50 year old Michael Christianson, of LaPorte was charged with transportation of child pornography. The criminal complaint alleges that on or about July 2, FBI Agents from the Charlotte Division responded to a complaint by a book publisher about material contained inside three books submitted for publication and authored by Christianson. The lead was distributed to Indiana FBI agents. The books appear to be geared toward children as they use large fonts, simple words, and most of the sentences rhyme. The books explain and show images of the body parts of boys and girls, encourage and show images of children playing naked with one another, and encourage and show images of naked children playing with adults, including naked adults. The forms of “play” encouraged by the books include hand to genital and genital to genital contact. The photographs and illustrations in the books include depictions of minor children being caused to lasciviously display their genitals or otherwise engage in sexually explicit conduct. Christianson was convicted of child molesting in 2002 and was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison and register as Sexually Violent Predator for the rest of his life. He was released from prison in 2016 and was still on probation at the time of the newly charged offense. Any members of the public who have information regarding any contact Mr. Christianson has had with minor children are encouraged to call the FBI at (219) 942-4900. The United States Attorney’s Office emphasizes that a criminal complaint is merely an allegation and that all persons are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.