Sedgwick Man Sentenced to 60 Years for Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material

BANGOR, Maine: A Sedgwick man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Bangor for producing child sexual abuse material.

Chief U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker sentenced Travis Bessey, 30, to 60 years in prison and supervised release for life. He was also ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution to each of his two victims.

According to court records, in May 2021, Bessey participated in a Kik chat room dedicated to the distribution of child sexual abuse material. A Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent monitoring the chat observed Bessey share images of a man sexually abusing young children. The U.S. Attorney’s Office does not identify victims of crime and is limiting identifying information, including gender, age and location, to protect the minor victims’ privacy. The Maine State Police and HSI executed a search warrant at Bessey’s residence. Following execution of the search warrant, Bessey admitted that he sent and received child sexual abuse material in the Kik group. Images of Bessey sexually abusing children were later recovered from his phone.

In imposing sentence, Judge Walker noted that he had handled many cases involving child sexual exploitation as a state and then federal judge, and that “this is the most thoroughly disturbing case I have ever seen.”

HSI investigated the case with assistance from the Maine State Police and the Bangor Police Department. 

To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt or production of child pornography: Child sexual abuse material – referred to in legal term as "child pornography" – captures the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. These images document victims’ exploitation and abuse, and they suffer revictimization every time the images are viewed. In 2023, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received 36 million reports of the possession, manufacture, or distribution of child sexual abuse materials. To file a report with NCMEC, go to https://report.cybertip.org or call 1-800-843-5678. If you are in Maine and you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted or abused, you can get help by calling the free, private 24-hour statewide sexual assault helpline at 1-800-871-7741.

Project Safe Childhood: This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department’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, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-me/psc.

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