COEUR D’ALENE, ID — A Lewiston man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of a child, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.
Michael Benjamin Hendren, 35, of Lewiston, was sentenced to 180 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford, federal officials said. Hendren will also serve 10 years of supervised release following his prison sentence and must register as a sex offender.
According to court records, the case began in May 2024 when investigators with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado were operating undercover social media accounts posing as minors as part of an effort to identify individuals seeking to exploit children online. Authorities say a user later identified as Hendren contacted two of those accounts and repeatedly requested sexually explicit images while sending explicit images of himself.
Investigators said Hendren also communicated on the same application with an undercover investigator from the Evesham Township Police Department in New Jersey, where he again allegedly attempted to persuade someone he believed to be a minor to produce sexually explicit material.
Court records indicate Hendren also communicated with a fourth user on the platform who was later identified by investigators as a 15-year-old girl. Authorities said Hendren sent sexually explicit images of himself and attempted to persuade the teenager to send explicit images in return.
Law enforcement agencies from multiple jurisdictions participated in the investigation, including the Lewiston Police Department, Idaho State Police, Moscow Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Evesham Township Police Department, the Nez Perce County Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Federal prosecutors said the case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative focused on combating online child exploitation and identifying victims.
