Former Wells Man Convicted of Child Sex Abuse Charges

Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that William Gaudet, 51, formerly of Wells, Maine, was convicted today following a four-day jury trial in U.S. District Court of transporting a minor interstate intending to engage in criminal sexual activity and interstate travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

According to court records and trial evidence, on two occasions during the summer of 2010, Gaudet traveled between Maine and Pennsylvania with an eight-year-old child intending to engage in sexual activity with her. On both occasions, he sexually assaulted the child.  The investigation began in 2014 after the child reported the abuse. In 2012, Gaudet was convicted in New Hampshire Superior Court for sexually assaulting another minor in 2001 and 2005.

The defendant faces between 10 years and life in prison on the transportation charge and up to 30 years in prison on the travel charge. He also faces a $250,000 fine on each count. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office. 

The investigation was conducted by the Biddeford, Gorham, Kennebunk, Wells, Wakefield (New Hampshire) and Pocono Township (Pennsylvania) Police Departments; the New Hampshire Correctional Facility; the Carroll County (New Hampshire) Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’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 via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.