Florida Man Admits Traveling to Lexington to Engage in Sex with Two Preteen Females

LEXINGTON—A Florida man admitted in federal court today that he traveled to Lexington, Kentucky to have sex with two preteen girls.

Dale Chisena, 60, pleaded guilty to one count of interstate travel to engage in sex with a person under 12 years of age. Chisena and the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to a specfiic prison sentence of 30 years. However, the sentence only becomes official if U.S. District Court Judge Karen Caldwell signs the agreement at Chisena’s sentencing hearing on June 14.

According to the plea agreement, in July of 2011, Chisena engaged in numerous online chats with a person he thought was a mother of 9- and 11-year-old daughters. In reality he was talking to an undercover officer with the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office Cyber Crimes Unit. In these chats, Chisena explained in detail his intentions to engage in sexual acts with the mother and her two daughters.

On February 4, 2011, officers arrested Chisnea after he arrived at Bluegrass Airport. Chisnea had brought gifts for the girls and other items that indicated his intention to perform sexual acts upon the girls.

Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Perrye Turner, special agent in charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Jack Conway, Kentucky Attorney General, jointly made the announcement today.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented in the case by its Fort Mitchell Branch Office.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”