Douglas Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Exploitation Charges

BOSTON – A Douglas man pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Worcester to attempting to travel to New York to engage in illicit sexual conduct with an undercover federal agent posing as a teenage girl.

Scot Trudeau, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.  U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman scheduled sentencing for Aug. 18, 2015.

The investigation of Trudeau’s conduct began after federal law enforcement in New York received complaints from an internet watchdog that Trudeau was engaged in questionable online communications concerning minors.  As a result, agents created a fictitious persona for a 13-year-old girl, “Casey,” and, via email, introduced “Casey” to Trudeau.  From September 2013 to January 2014, Trudeau communicated with “Casey” in dozens of emails.  In the course of these communications, Trudeau, who was in Massachusetts, proposed several times that the two meet near “Casey’s” supposed home in New York, and graphically described sexual acts that Trudeau wished to perform with her.  Trudeau was arrested in February 2014, and subsequently confessed.

The charging statute provides for a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, a minimum term of five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Grady of Ortiz’s Worcester Branch Office.

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