DOD Employee Pleads Guilty For Engaging In Illicit Sexual Conduct With A Minor In Honduras

HOUSTON – A civilian employee from the Department of Defense pleaded guilty today to one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign place, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson and Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. 

William Curry McGrath, 55, of San Antonio, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal in Houston.

According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, McGrath was the director of the Network Enterprise Center at the Soto Cano Air Base in Comayagua, Honduras, from December 2012 until his departure in March 2014. McGrath admitted that while stationed in Honduras, he met a 13-year-old girl and began a sexual relationship with her. He further admitted he gave the girl money, gifts and other items of value in exchange for sexual acts.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 6, 2015. At that time, he faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 fine. He was arrested in October 2014 and has been in custody since that time.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Houston Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Zack and Trial Attorney Amy E. Larson of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.  

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 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.