Shrewsbury Man Pleads Guilty To Sex Tourism

BOSTON – A Shrewsbury man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Worcester to traveling to the Dominican Republic with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Conrad Gallant, 61, previously of Winchendon and most recently of Shrewsbury, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the Court must sentence Gallant to between 60 and 168 months in prison, 10 years of supervised release, restitution and forfeiture. Sentencing is scheduled for June 26, 2013.

According to the agreed upon statement of facts, Gallant traveled to the Dominican Republic in February 2011 and had sexual relations in his apartment with a 14-year-old girl he knew was underage. Gallant returned to the Dominican Republic four times over the course of a year to engage in illicit sexual relations with the underage victim, giving her money, a laptop computer, and jewelry during that time. Additionally, on these trips, Gallant took photographs of the victim while she was nude and while engaging in sexual acts, and took those images back to the United States.

In February 2012, the National Tourist Police of the Dominican Republic learned that Gallant had engaged in sexual relations with the then 15-year-old victim. The victim was forensically interviewed by a medical professional and she confirmed that Gallant engaged in sex with her. She provided agents with a cell phone containing images of Gallant naked, including an image of Gallant and the victim engaged in sexual activity. The victim disclosed that Gallant had promised her certain items and money to take her mother to the doctor, but never gave them to her. Additionally, the victim stated that Gallant forced her to have sex with him a couple times when she was unwilling. The victim also informed investigators that Gallant asked her to bring him other minor girls to have sex with and this happened on two occasions. Gallant paid both of these minors $100.

In March 2012, a federal search warrant was executed at Gallant’s Shrewsbury address. During the search, agents recovered images of Gallant and the victim together engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including an image of the victim performing oral sex on Gallant and a close-up image of the victim’s genitalia displayed in a sexually explicit manner.

A second federal search warrant was executed on the items seized from Gallant’s apartment in the Dominican Republic and revealed a laptop containing numerous images of child pornography, including the images mentioned above of Gallant engaging the sexual conduct with the victim.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Bruce Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early; Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Chief James Hester, Jr. of the Shrewsbury Police Department, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael I. Yoon, Stacy Dawson Belf, and Eve Piemonte Stacey of Ortiz's Major Crimes Unit.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to extend its appreciation to HSI’s attaché in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Tourist Police (Politur), Dominican prosecutors in Higuey and Santo Domingo, Dominican Migration and HSI's Santo Domingo Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit members for their assistance and cooperation.