AREA MAN INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTED SOLICITATION OF A MINOR VIA THE INTERNET

(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) – A Corpus Christi man has been indicted for attempted enticement of a minor via the Internet and telephone for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.  

Norman Dewayne Wilson, 35, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Victoria, Texas, on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010, and charged with using a facility and means of interstate and foreign commerce, that is, a telephone and a computer connected to the Internet, in an attempt to coerce and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity between July 14 and July 21, 2010.

Wilson was charged federally by criminal complaint on July 26, 2010, with using a communications facility to coerce and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity following a July 21, 2010, arrest by Corpus Christi Police. The investigation leading to the arrest and subsequent federal charges began on July 14, 2010, when Wilson began communicating with an undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old minor female via the Internet. Through numerous communications, Wilson allegedly expressed his desire to engage in sexual acts with the child and arranged to meet the child at a specified time and place.  Wilson was arrested in Corpus Christi on July 21, 2010, after attempting to meet with the child to engage in the discussed activity.

In federal custody since his July arrest, Wilson will be notified of the return of the indictment against him and will be scheduled to appear for arraignment on the charges on a date in the near future.

The investigation leading to the arrest was conducted by the Corpus Christi Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Duke.

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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Indictments are formal accusations of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.

 

 

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