Peoria-area Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Sexually Exploiting Minor Girls While a Sex Offender

PEORIA, Ill. – Senior U.S. District Judge Joe Billy McDade today sentenced Charles A. Hewitt, 48, of Creve Coeur, Ill., to a total of 35 years in prison. The sentence consists of 25 years for the enticement and exploitation of minor girls to engage in sexual acts and an additional, consecutive 10 years for being a sex offender at the time of the crimes. Hewitt was also ordered to pay $3000 in restitution to each of the three victims charged in the indictment.  Judge McDade ordered that Hewitt remain on supervised release for a period of 10 years following the completion of his prison term. 

On Sept. 25, 2019, Hewitt pleaded guilty to the crimes. Hewitt admitted that he created a false identity on Skout or MeetMe.com beginning in 2017. Hewitt used a false name, age, and profile pictures, appearing to others as a 15-year-old male named “John” to solicit naked photographs and sexual acts from minor female victims. The investigation revealed that Hewitt enticed sexually explicit images from three minor female victims living within the Central District of Illinois, knowing they were minors. Hewitt also met and sexually assaulted two of the minor victims, and threatened to find and kill the horses of a third minor victim if she did not agree to send more sexually explicit images or have sexual intercourse with him. At the time of the crimes, Hewitt was required to register as a sex offender under Illinois law after pleading guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Woodford county, Ill., in 2014.

Hewitt has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest in September 2018.

The  U.S. Secret Service and the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Legge represented the government in the case prosecution.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.