WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Palm Beach Gardens attorney will spend the next four years in a federal prison after admitting to downloading child pornography to his personal laptop at his West Palm Beach apartment.
Before his arrest earlier this year, Michael Thomas Dolce, 54, represented children who were alleged victims of sexual abuse.
According to court records, Dolce used peer-2-peer software to search for and download the illegal material, including prepubescent children, according to a Justice Department news release.
Prosecutors said nearly 2,000 images and videos were recovered from Dolce's laptop.
Palm Beach Gardens
Attorney who fought against sex abuse convicted of child porn charges
Forensic evidence confirmed that Dolce was in the process of downloading child pornography files just before law enforcement seized his laptop during the execution of a federal search warrant of his residence, the Department of Justice said.
Dolce pleaded guilty in October to possessing child pornography.
He will be under 15 years of supervised release after serving his prison term.
Dolce was a partner at the Palm Beach Gardens office of Cohen Milstein but was fired after his arrest.
According to his Florida Bar member profile, Dolce had practiced law in the state since 1995.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.