BERKSHIRE COUNTY, MA – A Massasuchussets man has pled guilty to multiple charges involving predatory behavior and luring a young child in Berkshire County.
“In 2021 the Defendant utilized Omegle* to make contact with an 11-year-old child. Through the connection on the Omegle, the Defendant used predatory tactics to obtain graphic sexual content, on more than one platform, targeting an 11-year-old child. This is the second time the Defendant has exhibited such predatory criminal behavior with the first offense occurring in 2018. The child’s caregiver alerted law enforcement to the situation after checking the child’s technology device,” according to police.
District Attorney Shugrue said, “My Office requested 10 years in state prison because the Defendant used specific, predatory tactics to obtain graphic sexual content from an 11-year old along with having a proven record of prior child sexual abuse. With just two years between his first assault and second, it is clear that there is a pattern of targeted behavior. Children are among our most vulnerable population, and we must do everything in our power to protect them.”
The Commonwealth requested 10 years in state prison for the first and second charges of Posing/Exhibiting a Child in the Nude and Posing/Exhibiting a Child in a Sexual Act and five years of probation on and after for the charge of dissemination. The Defense requested probation on the first and second charge with a 2.5-year suspended sentence for the dissemination charge.
He was sentenced to 2 years in the House of Corrections for Dissemination of Matter Harmful to Minors, Second Offense, and three years of probation on and after for posting/exhibiting a child in the nude and posing/exhibiting a child in a sexual act. Conditions of probation are to attend counseling.
District Attorney Shugrue added, “Cases like this highlight the extreme risk that children face on apps and websites. Child predators take every opportunity on every platform to attack and sexually abuse and exploit children. We must protect our children. In today’s society a major piece of that protection is monitoring phone, tablet, and online technology usage.”