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SALT LAKE CITY — A man living in a Bountiful home where guns and bomb-making materials were found pleaded guilty Wednesday to possessing child pornography.
In exchange for Michael Swen Bergdorf's plea, prosecutors dismissed a second count of child pornography possession, according to district court records. His sentencing is scheduled for June 21.
His brother, Benjamin Lothar Bergdorf, pleaded guilty in November 2022 to possession of child pornography. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed two additional counts of possessing child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for April 27, and he's expected to serve three years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release, district court records show.
Investigators considered charges related to evidence of bomb-making materials, gun possession and drug trafficking found in the Bergdorfs' home, but ultimately went forward only with child pornography charges, district court records show.
Additionally, both brothers are German citizens with green cards. Documents in Benjamin Bergdorf's case note he is now subject to deportation.
The investigation began Aug. 23, 2019, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children filed a complaint on behalf of Microsoft stating someone had uploaded or downloaded suspected child pornography via Bing images, according to a police affidavit.
A search warrant was served in May 2020 at the Bergdorfs' residence by the FBI Child Exploitation task force along with the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
"Michael admitted post-Miranda that he has been seeking child sexual abuse material utilizing the dark web. The content was stored on an external hard drive inside the home," the affidavit states. "Located inside Benjamin Bergdorf's bedroom was a thumb drive. The content of that ... drive included images of child sexual abuse material."
But agents reported finding other items that raised concerns.
"Investigators also removed several firearms, over $20,000 in cash, and one short-barrel AK-47 rifle. ... Statements were made by one of the suspects that there is a history of hacking into government and private systems to obtain information. There is also an indication illegal drugs are being purchased or transported to the residence, or by at least one suspect," the affidavit states.
Michael Bergdorf acted as the family accountant, and had made money transfers "between $10,000 and $100,000 with no clear explanation for the purpose," according to the affidavit.
Furthermore, gas masks and "some material that could be used to make explosive devices" were found in the house with "no reasonable explanation of why it was in residence," the affidavit states.
"Benjamin Bergdorf also had an encyclopedia to create bomb-making material and had several items to create explosives," according to the affidavit.
