Brooklyn Park Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Exploiting Children

Baltimore, Maryland – Charles Anthony Forame, IV, 33, of Brooklyn Park, Maryland, pled guilty today, to federal child sexual exploitation charges.

Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the guilty plea with Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office; Jaymi Sterling, State’s Attorney for St. Mary’s County; Anthony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County; Robert H. Harvey, State’s Attorney for Calvert County; Anne Colt Leitess, State’s Attorney for Anne Arundel; Sheriff Steven A. Hall, St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office; Sheriff Troy D. Berry, Charles County Sheriff’s Office; Sheriff Ricky Cox, Calvert County Sheriff’s Office; and Chief Amal E. Awad, Anne Arundel County Police.

According to the guilty plea, Forame used his Snapchat account to meet teenage girls online. Forame then coerced the victims to provide him with explicit images, or in some instances, sexual acts in person. Forame, told the girls he was 19 to get them to interact with him. He often promised to provide vapes or marijuana in exchange for explicit images or sex acts. If the victims attempted to end the arrangement, Forame threatened to expose their images.  The victims, ages 13-16, were middle-school and high-school students.

Forame faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison, followed by up to a lifetime of supervised release. Sentencing is set for Monday, November 24, at 9:30 a.m.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit justice.gov/psc.  For more information about Internet safety education, please visit justice.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page.

U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes commended the FBI, St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney’s Office, Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office, Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office, Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office, St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office, Charles County Sheriff’s Office, Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, and the Anne Arundel County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Elizabeth McGuinn who is prosecuting the federal case.

For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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