Man Pleads Guilty to Traveling with Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Jason Hiram Watson, 37, of Chicago, Illinois, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara, to a felony charge of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, who is handling the case, stated that in January 2009, the defendant began communicating with a then-15-year-old female in Western New York. During the course of the conversations, Watson made arrangements to travel from his home in Illinois to engage in sexual contact with the minor female. On or about March 15, 2011, the defendant traveled to Western New York and met the minor female for the purpose of engaging in sexual contact.

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 plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James H. Robertson, and the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Christopher Cummings.

Sentencing is scheduled for August 1, 2011, at 12:30 p.m. EST, in Buffalo, N.Y., before Judge Arcara.