PORTLAND — A Lewiston transient who posed and photographed a 14-year-old girl in lingerie for prostitution was sentenced to the nearly three years she spent in jail.
A federal judge also imposed three years of supervised release for Everline “Eve” Niragira, 26, in U.S. District Court on Monday.
Niragira was arrested Nov. 30, 2020, for using her cellphone to take photos a month earlier of a 14-year-old girl after giving her lingerie to wear and posing her.
Niragira posted the photos on social media “with the intent to promote and facilitate the promotion of prostitution,” according to prosecutors.
She pleaded guilty in July to a felony charge of unlawful use of a facility in interstate commerce, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
A charge of possession of child pornography from her indictment was dismissed.
Niragira was born in a Red Cross hospital tent in Tanzania after her parents fled from Burundi. Her family lived in a refugee camp there for about 10 years before emigrating to Iowa through a refugee resettlement program.
Eventually, they moved to Maine.
Her mother suffered debilitating depression and did not interact with her children, keeping instead to her bedroom, according to Niragira’s attorney, David Beneman.
When she was 15 years old, Niragira’s family moved to Lewiston, where she went to high school.
She had been physically abused at home and her injuries were reported to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Niragira and her siblings were removed from their home and placed in foster care in Farmington.
There, she “blossomed and was happy and successful at school. She participated on the track team and in the chorus. She was beginning to develop an interest in drama, but then in July 2013, the children were returned to their parents,” Beneman wrote in court papers.
She graduated from high school and took courses at Central Maine Community College while working at a fast-food restaurant.
When her family went back to Africa, she was left homeless, Beneman wrote.
She suffered from mental health symptoms and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Conditions of her release include a requirement that she continue to take prescription medications and get mental health treatment. She must not associate or communicate with anyone under 18 unless it is incidental. Niragira also must participate and comply with the requirements of a computer and internet monitoring program.
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