Matthew William McLean, Child Abduction, Florida 2014

Tampa, FL – A shocking case of child abduction has shaken the community of Tampa, Florida. Matthew William McLean, a 14-year-old juvenile and registered sex offender, has been charged with child abduction.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the juvenile was reported missing on March 23, 2014. Law enforcement investigators discovered that the juvenile had been involved in online communications with the defendant, including Kik messenger and Skype. The defendant, McLean, had purchased a Greyhound bus ticket from Minneapolis to Tampa and two bus tickets from Tampa to Brownsville, Texas, with a stop in Tallahassee.

The defendant, Matthew William McLean, is a 25-year-old registered sex offender from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He faces charges of conspiring to travel in interstate commerce to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

The case was brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, with the close assistance of numerous federal, state, and local agencies. The charges in this case vary by defendant, but they include conspiring to travel in interstate commerce to engage in illicit sexual conduct, production of child pornography, distribution and receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

During the period of October 1, 2013, through April 30, 2015, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida brought 204 Project Safe Childhood cases against 209 individuals. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida has also prosecuted numerous cases involving human trafficking, where individuals, including minors, were forced to commit commercial sex acts.

Law enforcement agencies participating in the event included representatives from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Tampa Police Department, and the Clearwater Police Department (Clearwater/Tampa Bay Area Task Force Against Human Trafficking).

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reports that 24 percent of identified victims were pubescent, and 76 percent were prepubescent. To learn more about the Be Here for Kids Campaign, visit www.BeHereForKids.org.

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