Savannah man sentenced to decades in prison for sexual abuse of a child

SAVANNAH, GA:  A Savannah man has been sentenced to more than two decades in federal prison after admitting he sexually abused a child at an overseas military base during an eight-year period.

Paul Francis Dunn III, 46, of Savannah, was sentenced to 293 months in prison after pleading guilty to Abusive Sexual Contact Committed by a Person Employed by the Armed Forces Outside the United States, and Sexual Abuse of a Minor Committed by a Person Employed by the Armed Forces Outside the United States, said David H. Estes, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker also ordered Dunn to serve a life term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender after completion of his prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. A hearing will be held at a later date to determine the amount of restitution Dunn must pay.

“Sexual abuse of a child creates a lifetime of trauma,” said U.S. Attorney Estes. “While this sentence can’t undo the abuse, at least it can ensure that Paul Dunn will be locked away for his horrific crimes.”

 As described in court documents and testimony, Dunn admitted that while he served in the U.S. Army and later as a civilian U.S. employee in Belgium, from 2006 to 2014, he repeatedly sexually abused a child under age 16. He was arrested in 2018 after the victim reported the abuse, and Dunn pled guilty to the charges in U.S. District Court in June 2021.

“Sexual assault against a child is an unspeakable crime that deserves the harshest penalties,” said Gregory Ford, Director of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID). “This sentence is a reflection of the dedication our CID Special Agents and our law enforcement partners maintain, to seek justice for the most vulnerable among us.”

“It is beyond comprehension that someone in a position sworn to protect American citizens would take advantage and traumatize a vulnerable child,” said Philip Wislar, Acting Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Maybe Dunn thought he could keep his crimes buried overseas, but that will not stop the FBI from pursuing child predators. Thanks to the help of our partners, he will now serve a lengthy prison sentence where he won’t be able to victimize any more children.”

The case was investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Fort Stewart office and the FBI, and prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Kaylynn Foulon and Eduardo Palomo of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcela Mateo of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.justice.gov/psc.

Anyone with information on suspected child sexual exploitation can contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678, or https://report.cybertip.org/.