Dansville Man Sentenced for Enticing Child

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that William F. Chappell, 43, of Dansville, N.Y., who was convicted of enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer.

            Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa J. Miller, who handled the case, stated that between March 2009 and May 2009, Chappell enticed a child under the age of 18 to engage in sexual activity. The defendant utilized a cellular phone and, through a series of text messages and exchanges, persuaded the child to engage in sexual activity. At Chappell's request, the child took sexually explicit photographs and sent them to the defendant. Chappell knew that the child was not yet 18 years old when he communicated with and enticed the child.

            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 United States 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, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

            The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Department of Homeland Security, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James C. Spero, and Officers of the Dansville Police Department, under the direction of Chief Charles Perkins.