Man Pleads Guilty to Aggravated Sexual Abuse

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A man pleaded guilty today to traveling to Alabama with intent to engage in a sexual act with a child younger than 12, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and FBI Special Agent in Charge Carlton L. Peeples.

Mark Anthony Bedwell, 53, of Lowestoft, England, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Madeline H. Haikala to aggravated sexual abuse: crossing the state line with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a child under 12.  According to court documents, Bedwell travelled from the United Kingdom to Huntsville, Alabama, in May 2013 and engaged in a sex act with a child in Madison County.  The maximum penalty for the charge is life in prison.  

Charles Dunnavant, 37, of Huntsville, Alabama, previously pled guilty on June 16, 2015, to the same charge in a related case before U.S. District Court Judge Madeline H. Haikala. Dunnavant was sentenced to 435 months imprisonment.

If you suspect or become aware of possible sexual exploitation of a child, please contact law enforcement. To alert the FBI Birmingham Office, call 205-326-6166. Reports can also be filed with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) or online at www.cybertipline.org.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 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 (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The FBI investigated the case, along with the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police Service and the North Rhein-Westfalia Landeskriminalamt, a German law enforcement agency. The Huntsville Police Department assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary Stuart Burrell and John M. Hundscheid are prosecuting the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney J.B. Ward assisted with extradition efforts.