Vermont Resident Pleads Guilty to Traveling to Lake George for Sexual Contact with Minor

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Scott Westervelt, age 46, pled guilty today to interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a 12-year-old.  United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

Westervelt admitted that between January and June 2022, he exchanged sexually explicit messages online with someone posing as a man who was sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy.  Over the course of those exchanges, Westervelt expressed his desire to engage in illicit sexual conduct with the 12-year-old, and ultimately Westervelt arranged to meet the man and the boy in Lake George, New York, for that purpose.  On June 14, 2022, Westervelt left his residence in Bennington, Vermont, and drove to a prearranged meet-up location in Lake George, where he was arrested. 

Westervelt will be sentenced on December 15, 2023 by Chief United States District Judge Brenda K. Sannes.  Under the terms of Westervelt’s plea agreement, the parties have jointly recommended to Chief Judge Sannes that he receive a prison term of at least 70 months and no more than 87 months, and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of at least 5 years and up to life.  Westervelt would also have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

The FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force investigated the case. The FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force includes members of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the Colonie Police Department and New York State Police.  Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin S. Clark and former Assistant United States Attorney Rachel Williams prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s 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, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.