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A federal judge has sentenced Micheal Eloshway of 90 Day Fiancé to 10 years in prison following his conviction on child pornography charges.

On Oct. 29, U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan sentenced the one-time TLC personality to a decade behind bars followed by 10 years of post-release supervision. She also ordered him to pay $10,000 to a fund for victims of human trafficking and $5,000 each to two specific individuals depicted in the material he downloaded. He will also be required to register as a sex offender. 

Eloshway was convicted in July 2024 after a jury found that he had downloaded thousands of images depicting child sexual abuse between February 2022 and March 2023. 

Michael Eloshway appeared with Aziza Mazhidova in ‘90 Day Fiancé’ Season 1  

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Eloshway was a cast member on 90 Day Fiancé Season 1 in 2014, along with his now-wife Aziza Mazhidova. Mazhidova, who is from Russia, met Eloshway on a language-learning site. She eventually moved to Ohio to be with him, where the two married. Their daughter was born in 2019. 

“We’ve waited so long for this and I want everything to be right,” Eloshway said of bringing his then-girlfriend to the U.S. on a K-1 visa. 

Mazhidova – who now goes by her married name of Aziza Eloshway – was in court for her husband’s trial and sentencing but did not speak publicly, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. However, she did write a letter to the judge in defense of Eloshway. 

“He is a rock to this family in so many ways, and this traumatic experience with his trial and the conviction has left us all shocked and heartbroken,” she wrote. “My family is being torn apart, and I know that he has been tortured by his feelings of guilt and regret for the irresponsible mistake that he’s made.”

Eloshway’s mother also wrote a letter to the judge, In Touch reported. She outlined a series of personal tragedies, including a friend’s death by suicide and his sister’s cancer diagnosis, that “put him into a severe depression” and led him to become “increasingly addicted to pornography.” She argued that although her son made a “horrific mistake” he shouldn’t be punished with “a long period of incarceration.” 

Former TLC star will be allowed to spend one last Christmas with his family 

Though Eloshway is headed to prison, he is not currently behind bars. The judge agreed to let him self-surrender after he requested to be allowed to spend Christmas with his daughter. 

Eloshway’s 10-year sentence is significantly less than the 17½ to 20 years federal sentencing guidelines recommended. But the judge imposed a lesser punishment because Eloshway did not have a prior criminal history and had passed a polygraph exam where he said he did not intend to seek out real children.  

At his sentencing, Eloshway insisted he mistakenly downloaded the images of child sexual abuse while seeking out adult pornography. 

“I hate that I became a part of this,” he said. “It breaks my heart. I have a 5-year-old daughter who is my whole world. I never intended to see any of this.”

How to get help: If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 for free and confidential support.

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