Left: Mike Eloshway. Right: Aziza (Mazhidova) Eloshway (via YouTube/TLC screenshot).
A former reality TV personality from Ohio whose engagement to an Uzbek woman 10 years her junior was documented on TLC’s “90 Day Fiance” is facing federal sex crime charges.
Mike Eloshway, 40, was charged under two separate child sexual abuse material statutes, according to federal court records. He was charged June 15 in the Northern District of Ohio.
Eloshway “knowingly received and distributed, using all means and facilities of interstate and foreign commerce, numerous computer files, which files contained visual representations of actual minors engaged in sexually explicit content,” the indictment states. , filed June 15.
Federal prosecutors also allege that Eloshway “knowingly possessed a black HP desktop computer that contained child pornography.” At least one of those images, according to the indictment, “involved a prepubescent minor or a minor under the age of 12.”
Eloshway and his then-fiancée Aziza Mazhidova appeared on the inaugural season of the TLC show “90 Day Fiancé” in 2014, In Touch reported. They met on a language learning website when Eloshway was 31 and Mazhidova – who has since taken her husband’s surname – was 21.
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They announced the birth of their daughter in January 2019, according to the InTouch story.
The two statutes under which Eloshway is charged carry potential maximum legal sentences of 20 years, although a sentence could be higher if an accused has previously been convicted of child sex crimes.
Court records indicate that the Federal Public Defender’s Office will represent Eloshway. TLC did not immediately return a request for comment.
Eloshway’s arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday, according to the federal filing.
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