Olyphant Man Charged With Attempted Enticement Of A Minor For Sexual Purposes

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Criminal Information was filed on February 13, 2017, charging Brian LaChance, age 27, of Olyphant, Pennsylvania, with using a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual conduct.

According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, LaChance is charged with using the internet and a cell phone to attempt to entice and persuade a 15-year-old female to send him sexually explicit photographs of her in November 2015.

The charge stems from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Army criminal investigators. Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.

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.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is life imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. The charge also carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

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