Chelsea Man Sentenced to 17 Years for Child Exploitation Offenses

BOSTON – A Chelsea man was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Boston for sexually exploiting a child.

Elmer Reyes, 32, was sentenced in by U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. to 210 months in prison after pleading guilty in January 2016 producing and possessing child pornography. Reyes was previously convicted in Suffolk County Superior Court of eight counts of aggravated rape of a child with force, three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, one count of assault and battery, and one count of posing a child in a state of nudity.  Reyes was sentenced in December 2015 to 13 years in state prison.  The federal and state sentences will be served concurrently.

In 2007, Reyes, who was a long-time, trusted friend of the victim’s family, began abusing the victim.  Thereafter, he volunteered to drive the victim to school and regularly sexually assaulted her while alone with her.  He also photographed the sexual abuse.  On one occasion in October 2014, following the child’s late arrival at school and traumatized appearance, school officials questioned the victim who disclosed the sexual abuse.  The school immediately alerted law enforcement. 

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Chelsea Police Chief  Brian Kyes, made the announcement.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David G. Tobin of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.