A San Antonio man who used social media to fuel his fetish for child pornography has been tossed in federal prison for 20 years, which is the maximum punishment.
"When you get someone who is encouraging others to make child pornography, it takes it to another level," Federal Judge David Ezra said.
Michael Kiper, 33, was busted by the FBI in 2016, which were looking into his use of the Kik messenger and the dating site Grindr, which they testified he used to connect with other men who had a sexual interest in children.
In one case, where Kiper was speaking to an undercover FBI agent, prosecutors testified that he was explaining how to drug the child so they would not fight back, and not remember the rape.
"He admitted in chats to sexually assaulting a little boy from a time when he was three," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson told the judge.
Kiper was also under investigation by the FBI in Indianapolis in 2012, Louisville, KY, in 2015 and later in Washington.
In their argument to the Judge, prosecutors say, in San Antonio, Kiper befriended 29 year old Nicholas Gonzales-Malven, who was a daycare worker. He convinced Malven to create child pornography, which was seized as part of the investigation.
That put Judge Ezra over the edge.
"The defendant's obsession and compulsion was so great that he was unable to control himself. In spite of the fact that he was under investigation by the FBI for a period of the FBI, he continued to engage in that behavior and, to a degree, escalated it."
Gonzales-Malven is set to go before a federal judge in June.