Shrewsbury Man Sentenced For Sex Tourism

BOSTON – A Shrewsbury man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Worcester for traveling to the Dominican Republic to engage in sexual conduct with a minor.

Conrad Gallant was sentenced to 100 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, including requiring no unsupervised contact with minors. Upon release, Gallant will be required to register as a sex offender for any place he works, resides or is a student. In April 2013, Gallant pleaded guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

In February 2011, Gallant traveled to the Dominican Republic 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 sexual relations with the underage victim, giving her money, a laptop computer, and jewelry. Additionally, on these trips, Gallant took photographs of her while she was nude and engaging in sexual acts, and brought 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, which he never gave 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 that this happened on two occasions. Gallant paid both of these minors $100.

In March 2012, during a federal search warrant executed at Gallant’s Shrewsbury address, agents recovered images of him and the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct. There was also a close-up of the victim’s genitalia displayed in a sexually explicit manner. During a second federal search warrant, executed at Gallant’s apartment in the Dominican Republic, agents seized a laptop containing numerous images of child pornography, including images of Gallant engaging in 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 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.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed by the Department of Justice in 2006, to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.