Additional Child Exploitation Charges Filed Against Maine Resident

BOSTON – A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment yesterday adding three additional charges against a Saco, Maine man.

Dillan Letellier, 30, was charged in a seven-count superseding indictment with two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor involving two minor victims, one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, three counts of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and one count of possession of child pornography. In October 2013, Letellier was originally indicted on coercion and travel relating to one minor victim.

The indictment alleges that Letellier met the minor victims on the Internet and thereafter persuaded each minor to meet with him in person. On two separate occasions, Letellier traveled from Maine to one of the minor’s town in Massachusetts where he engaged in sexual intercourse with the minor. On another occasion, Letellier traveled from Maine to a second minor’s town to engage in sexual intercourse with the minor. On Oct. 3, 2013, Letellier was arrested on federal charges. A search warrant was executed at his residence in Maine that day and officers located child pornography on computers. Letellier has remained in federal custody since his arrest in October, 2013.

The charging statutes provide a sentence of no greater than life in prison and a 10 year mandatory minimum in addition to a mandatory minimum of five years of supervised release and a maximum of a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 for each count. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Shelly Binkowski, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, made the announcement today. The case was also investigated the police department in the town(s) in which the minor victims reside. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of Ortiz's Major Crimes Unit.

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 Criminal Division=s CEOS, 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/.