90 Day Fiance alum Michael Eloshway has received a guilty verdict.
The case involves multiple charges related to child sexual-abuse material (CSAM).
Mike and Aziza were a Season 1 couple from before the TLC reality series had taken the world by storm.
Aziza traveled halfway around the world to marry Mike. Now, her husband is going away to prison, and likely for a very long time.
A jury found Mike Eloshway guilty
90 Day Fiance alum Michael Eloshway has been found guilty on two charges related to CSAM.
According to Cleveland.com, his charges stem from receiving, distributing, and possessing contraband media that includes the sexual abuse of minors. At least one of the victims in question was below the age of 12.
Mike was 31 when he made his 90 Day Fiance debut. Now 40, he could be spending the next 17 to 20 years of his life behind bars.
In June, Eloshway’s attorney argued in court that his client had made generic searches for torrent files. Apparently, what he’d downloaded had contained unindexed files of a horrific and illegal nature.
(Just to clarify, peer-to-peer software like torrent engines can be used for legal purposes and for much more innocuous yet technically illegal purposes. As we explained during the Josh Duggar trial of a similar nature to this one, someone downloading Game of Thrones or a film doesn’t really compare)
Is it possible to accidentally download heinous material involving the abuse of children? Almost certainly. That’s what his attorney argued — and claimed that Eloshway deleted the files once he discovered them. But it doesn’t sound like prosecutors believe that that’s what Mike Eloshway did.
The ’90 Day Fiance’ alum’s indictment is damning
The June 24, 2023 indictment accused Mike Eloshway of “knowingly receiving and distributing … depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
Authorities claimed that he engaged in this crime between February 2022 and March 2023.
Investigators also found that he possessed a computer that contained CSAM as of May 9, 2023. That seems to suggest that they do not believe that he deleted all of the material upon discovery, as his attorney claims.
On social media, some 90 Day Fiance fans have suggested that his age gap with Aziza Mazhidova should have been a “red flag.” Mike was 31 and she was 21 when the two met on a language learning website.
Sometimes, real-life age gaps between adults are signs that someone is looking for a partner whom they can control. Not always — and, generally, not when they’re only 10 years apart. It’s usually normal for people in their 20s and 30s to date.
It’s so important to emphasize that Aziza is a grown woman. And, to our knowledge, the two never even spoke before she was an adult. This contrasts with 90 Day Fiance couple Evelyn and David, notably.
And, to be clear, even a very young adult is not the same as a child. Let alone the one or more prepubescent victims that Mike Eloshway allegedly knowingly received.
As for Aziza, it’s unclear if they remain a couple. They became parents together, which is uncomfortable when considering Aziza’s future and his crime.
Mike deactivated his social media. And Aziza has set hers to private. Under the circumstances, that makes sense.