Man Sentenced to 16 Years for Interstate Transportation of a Minor for Sex

ALBANY—Andrew Benway, age 25, of Queensbury, New York, was sentenced today to 196 months (16 years and three months) in prison by Chief United States District Judge Gary L. Sharpe for interstate transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Special Agent in Charge Clifford C. Holly of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Benway was also sentenced to a life time term of supervised release. The sentencing follows Benway’s guilty plea on November 1, 2011.

According to the plea agreement, in March 2011, Benway met the 14-year-old victim on the Internet, and on May 4, 2011, met her at her school in Vermont and drove her to his home in New York. Benway, who was 24 years old at the time, intended to have sexual relations when he transported her to New York and later did engage in intercourse and oral sexual conduct with her.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Warren County, New York Sheriff’s Office; the Hartford, Vermont Police Department; and the Vermont Internet Crimes Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, with the cooperation of the Warren County District Attorney’s Office.