Press Release
Wareham Man Indicted on Charge of Possession of Child Pornography
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts
BOSTON – A Wareham man was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday for possession of child pornography.
David St. Jacques, 56, was indicted on one count of possession of child pornography. St. Jacques was charged by criminal complaint and arrested in September 2020, and has been in custody since.
According to the charging documents, a search of St. Jacques’s residence on Sept. 29, 2020 resulted in seizure of a computer, three phones and one thumb drive. St Jacques had allegedly destroyed at least two other drives and attempted to destroy one of his phones when agents arrived to execute the warrant. St. Jacques admitted to exchanging child pornography with other individuals on various chatting applications, and child pornography was discovered during the on scene review of devices that were still intact.
In March 2009, St. Jacques was convicted in Plymouth County Superior Court of several counts of dissemination and possession of child pornography.
Due to the prior felony conviction, St. Jacques faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to 20 years in prison, five years and up to life of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti, Lelling’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and Deputy Chief of the Major Crimes Unit, is prosecuting the case.
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 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/.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Updated November 4, 2020
Topic
Project Safe Childhood
Component