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Press Release

China Grove, N.C. Man Sentenced To More Than 11 Years For Online Enticement Of A Minor

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Shawn Steven Wilson, 33, of China Grove, N.C., was sentenced today to 142 months in prison for enticement of a minor using the internet, announced R. Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  In addition to the prison term imposed, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. also ordered Wilson to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Murray is joined in making today’s announcement by John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Chief Kerr Putney of Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.

According to court documents and today’s court proceedings, Wilson responded to an online posting for individuals interested in engaging in sexual contact with a minor.  From August 17 to September 1, 2016, Wilson engaged in multiple communications with an FBI undercover employee posing as the minor’s parent.  During the exchanges, Wilson discussed his interest in engaging in sexual contact with the minor who he believed to be an 11-year-old girl, asked for naked pictures of the minor, and made arrangements to meet her.  Law enforcement arrested Wilson when he arrived to meet the minor at an agreed-upon location for the purpose of engaging in sexual activities.

Wilson pleaded guilty in June 2017 to one count of online enticement of a minor. He is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The FBI led the investigation assisted by CMPD.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.

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 the U.S. Attorney’s Office 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Updated March 21, 2018

Topic
Project Safe Childhood