MASSACHUSETTS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES

BOSTON, MA... Alice S. Fisher, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, United States Department of Justice, Michael J. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District
of Massachusetts, and Kenneth Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Field office announced today that ROBERT A. FAFARD, age 62, of
Worcester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts to one count of Attempted Coercion and Enticement in violation of Title 18,
United States Code, Section 2422(b), two counts of Transportation of Child Pornography in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a), and one count of Possession of Child
Pornography in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(4).

At the plea hearing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office advised U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV, that if the case had gone to trial, the government would have proved that in
April 2004, an FBI agent trained in child enticement cases, posed as a 12 year-old girl and in that role, posted a profile on the internet that included a photograph and the internet name “OhioLisa13". FAFARD contacted the UC, believing that he had contacted the 12 year old girl. In a series of internet chats, he sent her child pornography to entice her to agree to be photographed in sexually suggestive ways and to engage in sexual conduct with him. FAFARD also participated in recorded telephone calls with an undercover police officer posing as “OhioLisa13.” In the recorded calls, FAFARD spoke about wanting to engage in sexual conduct with her and to photograph her naked. In September 2004, “OhioLisa13" told Fafard she was relocating to Rhode Island. FAFARD pressed the undercover for the address in Rhode Island, and used the internet to print out directions to travel from his Worcester residence to the Rhode Island address. FBI agents arrested FAFARD and searched his residence on November 10, 2004. Agents seized two computers with several hundreds of images of child pornography, a 50- state atlas opened to Rhode Island and a Mapquest print out of directions. FAFARD confessed to downloading pictures over the internet and conceded he may have sent “OhioLisa13" child pornography.

The investigation conducted by the Cleveland, Ohio and Boston, Massachusetts field offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Mentor-on-the-Lake,
Ohio Police Department.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Hennessy of the District of Massachusetts and Trial Attorney Jennifer Toritto Leonardo of the Criminal
Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Assistant to the Chief for Computer Forensics and Investigations Jim Fottrell of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section’s High Technology Investigative Unit and Computer Forensic Specialists Lam D. Nguyen and Steve Swanson assisted the FBI with the forensic examinations of FAFARD’S computer.

Defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years imprisonment and up to thirty years imprisonment on his guilty plea to the Attempted Coercion and Enticement. He faces
a mandatory minimum of five years imprisonment and up to twenty years imprisonment on each guilty plea to Transportation of Child Pornography. His plea of guilty to Possession of Child Pornography carries a sentence of up to ten years in prison. FAFARD also faces a fine not to exceed $250,000 and a five-year term of supervised release. His sentencing is scheduled for September 7, 2006.

Press Contact: Christina DiIorio-Sterling 617-748-3356.