Rochester Man Sentenced to 46 Months in Abusive Sexual Contact on High Seas Case
U.S. Attorney’s Office February 11, 2011 |
ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Lucas George Wickes, 25, of Rochester, New York, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and order to pay restitution in the amount of $2,667 by U.S. District Court Judge David G. Larimer for abusive sexual contact on the high seas.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who handled the case, stated that the defendant admitted that on January 1, 2007, while on board the Disney "Wonder" departing from Port Canaveral, Florida to the Caribbean, he knowingly engaged in sexual contact with a 13-year-old minor by placing the minor in fear that she would be subjected to serious bodily injury.
The minor and her family boarded the Disney Cruise ship "Wonder" at Port Canaveral, Florida on December 31, 2006. That evening, the minor went to the ship's teen club with some other minors she had met. After the club closed, the minor and her companions were approached by Wickes, who ordered them to return to their rooms. The defendant told the victim to follow him and she did, believing him to be a security officer with the cruise ship. After the defendant led her to the rear of the ship to a location where no other people were around, he knowingly engaged in sexual contact with the minor.
The sentence was the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James Robertson.