BOSTON – Derek Lecompte, 26, agreed to plead guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Springfield to three counts of sexual exploitation of a child. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for March 30, 2017.
Lecompte admitted that he befriended a 10-year-old boy, took sexually explicit pictures of him, and posted the pictures on the internet.
The charging statute provides a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and no greater than 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000. If the Court accepts the plea agreement, Lecompte will be sentenced to 15 years in prison, and 10 years of supervised release. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Greenfield Police Chief Robert H. Haigh Jr., made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’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, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.