A Standish man has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for attempting to transfer obscene material to a minor, a crime that’s on the rise nationwide.
John Wilson, 36, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland for engaging in inappropriate conversations with at least two minor children using the internet and social media. He pleaded guilty on January 30, 2023.
According to court records, in March 2022, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office received reports that an individual later identified as Wilson had engaged in inappropriate conversations with at least two minor children. In June 2022, Wilson engaged in sexually explicit online chats with members of a watchdog group posing as underage girls, sending photographs of his penis and live-streaming a video of himself masturbating to someone he believed to be an 11-year-old girl.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) reported an alarming increase in online enticement reports between 2020 and 2022, with reports more than doubling. “Online enticement” involves an individual communicating with someone believed to be a child via the internet with the intent to commit a sexual offense or abduction.
This type of victimization takes place across every platform, including social media, messaging apps, gaming platforms, etc. Learn more about online enticement, including red flags and risk factors, at https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/onlineenticement. If you are in Maine and you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted or abused, you can get help by calling the free, private 24-hour statewide sexual assault helpline at 1-800-871-7741.
This case was brought as 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. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
Wilson was sentenced to 40 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, all part of a federal prison sentence for his crimes.
Related Federal Cases
- Standish Man Pleads Guilty to Sending Obscene Material to Child · Maine
- Registered Sex Offender Guilty of Child Pornography Charges · Maine
- Gorham Man Steven Tutt Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges · Maine
- Portland Man Glenn Strout, 53, Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges · Maine
- Dillan Letellier Pleads Guilty to Luring Teens for Sex · Massachusetts
Key Facts
- State: Maine
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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