Minnesota Sex Offender Indicted For Traveling To Engage In Unlawful Sexual Activity With A Tampa Minor

Tampa, FL – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the return of an indictment charging Matthew William McLean (25, Minneapolis, Minnesota) with the attempted transportation of a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, interstate travel to meet a minor with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and committing a felony sex offense as a registered sex offender. If convicted on all counts, McLean faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.           

According to court documents, McLean, a registered sex offender from Minnesota, traveled to Tampa to meet a minor female he was corresponding with online. McLean picked up the minor from her house and transported her to the Greyhound bus station, where he purchased two bus tickets from Tampa to Brownsville, Texas. 

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Tallahassee Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stacie B. Harris.

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 Attorneys' 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.