1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Chris Zumpetta-Parr, Public Affairs Specialist

October 10, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

MASSACHUSETTS WOMAN ENTERS PLEA OF GUILTY
TO TRAVELING TO
WEST VIRGINIA TO HAVE SEX WITH A MINOR

CLARKSBURG, WV – United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld announced that CARISSA HADS, age 25, of Quincy, Massachusetts, entered a plea of guilty on October 10, 2012, in United States District Court in Clarksburg before Magistrate Judge John S. Kaull.

HADS entered a plea of guilty “Traveling in Interstate Commerce with the Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct” on February 23, 2012, when HADS traveled from Massachusetts to North Central West Virginia to have sex with a minor. Court documents indicate that HADS posed as an 18-year old man on a social media website and also took steps to change her appearance in order to deceive the victim as to her true identity. HADS met the alleged victim online in 2010 and the two communicated for over a year before the first in-person meeting took place. HADS traveled at least three times from Massachusetts to visit the alleged victim, and was arrested at the Pittsburgh International Airport by F.B.I. agents on May 25, 2012, on one of her visits to the area.

As part of her plea, HADS has agreed to the forfeiture of the computer and electronic equipment seized from her and her residence.

HADS, who is in custody pending sentencing, faces up to 30 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

The case was be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn A. Morgan, Chief of the Criminal Division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and investigated by the West Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.