Charles Eugene Schnitzlein III, Traveling to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct with a Minor, Massachusetts 2021

Related Federal Cases

Eric Robert Johnson, Child Porn Possession, Massachusetts 2024 · New Hampshire
Michael Johnson, Aiding Prostitution Ring, Massachusetts 2022 · New Hampshire
John Doe, Child Pornography Offenses, Massachusetts 2023 · New Hampshire
Vanessa Grandoit, Sex Trafficking, Massachusetts 2015 · New York
Jose Dones, Failure to Register as Sex Offender, Massachusetts 2018 · South Dakota

Table of Contents

Fall River Man Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation Charges

A Fall River man has pleaded guilty to traveling to New Hampshire to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. Charles Eugene Schnitzlein III, 34, entered a plea of guilty in federal court in Boston on October 26, 2021, to traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a person under 18 years of age.

Schnitzlein was charged by criminal complaint on April 9, 2021. According to court documents, Schnitzlein used a messaging application to communicate with an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl and devised a plan to meet the purported teenager to have sex.

On April 9, 2021, Schnitzlein drove from Fall River to a mall in Nashua, N.H., to meet with the undercover officer posing as a teenage girl. On his way to the meetup location, Schnitzlein stopped to purchase condoms, flowers, soda, and candy. Officers arrested Schnitzlein when he arrived.

During an interview with law enforcement, Schnitzlein admitted that he traveled from Fall River to meet the purported 13-year-old girl and booked a hotel room in Nashua, N.H. to have sex with the purported teenager.

The charge of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, at least five years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Schnitzlein is scheduled to be sentenced on March 3, 2022. The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative created by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in 2006. The initiative marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.