Stephen James Lemelin, Obscene Material Transfer to a Minor, Massachusetts 2026

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A former high school wrestling coach in Burlington, Massachusetts, was sentenced for sending sexually explicit messages and obscene material to an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl on Kik Messenger. Stephen James Lemelin, 51, was sentenced on March 26, 2026, after being convicted of three counts of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. The crimes occurred over the course of five months, during which Lemelin sent three separate obscene photographs of his genitals to the purported child and proposed meeting in person for sex.

Lemelin was arrested and charged in May 2024 and subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2024. He was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with valuable assistance provided by Customs and Border Protection and the Arlington, Boston, Brookline, Burlington, Salisbury, and Winchester Police Departments. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David G. Tobin and Eric L. Hawkins.

The sentencing is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. The project aims to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.

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