By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

 A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a man found guilty of trying to rent a 12-year-old Biddeford girl for sex. 

Michael A. Berk, 31, of Brownfield, was convicted in May 2009 of two felony counts of enticing minors for sex acts and pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. He was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison.

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on July 27 upheld Berk’s conviction and rejected his appeal claims that the indictment against him was defective because it did not specify an underlying crime and that evidence presented at trial was insufficient to convict him.

The court found the indictment was not fatally defective and evidence was sufficient to support conviction on both charges.

Berk was arrested in August 2008 after a Biddeford man told police another man offered to rent his daughter for sex. The Biddeford man had posted an ad seeking handyman jobs on the website Craigslist and Berk sent him a message asking “will you rent any of them out?” after asking about his children, according to court records.

The Biddeford man called police and, under direction of officers, continued an online conversation with Berk. The two men arranged to meet at a Westbrook coffee shop, where Berk was instead met by an undercover detective, according to court records.

Before he was arrested, Berk expressed interest in having oral sex with the 12-year-old girl for $100 per night or up to $300 per week, according to court records. A search of Berk’s home after his arrest uncovered child pornography stored on computers and external storage devices, according to court records.

After his arrest related to the Biddeford incident, a Portland woman contacted police to report her interactions with Berk. The woman had posted an Internet ad looking for housing for herself and her daughter. According to court records, Berk offered to help earn extra money for housing and asked if she would “be interested in renting (the daughter) out, getting her trained, anything along those lines ...”

Berk suggested he and the woman meet to make further arrangements, but the woman saw Berk’s story and photo on the news and called police, according to court records.

Berk was indicted and convicted on charges related to both incidents.

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.