Chicago Man Sentenced to Prison

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Jason Watson, 36, of Chicago, Illinois, who was convicted of interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, was sentenced to 85 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael DiGiacomo and Maura O’Donnell, who handled the case, stated that the defendant, a former Cook County Sheriff’s Deputy, met a minor during a trip to Western New York. Watson then developed a relationship with the minor through the Internet and telephone. In 2009, the defendant traveled to Western New York from Illinois for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with the minor.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of investigators from the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Christopher Cummings, and special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge, Christopher M. Piehota.