Retired Florida School Teacher Sentenced 30 Years for Traveling to Kentucky for Sex with Pre-Teen Girls

LEXINGTON—A retired elementary school teacher from Florida was sentenced to 30 years in prison today for traveling to Lexington in an attempt to have sex with two preteen girls.

U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell sentenced 60 year-old Dale Chisena for interstate travel to engage in sex with a person under 12 years of age.

Chisena previously admitted that in early 2011, he engaged in numerous online chats with a person he thought was the 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. According to his plea agreement, Chisena explained in detail his intentions to engage in sexual acts with the mother and her two daughters.

“Mr. Chisena had every intention of sexually exploiting young children,” said U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey. “We were fortunate that he was chatting with an undercover officer and not vulnerable children.”

Chisena was indicted on federal charges in April 2011.

On February 4, 2011, Chisena flew from Florida to Lexington. Chisena was arrested shortly after arriving at the Bluegrass Airport. He had brought gifts for the girls and other items that indicated his intention to perform sexual acts on the girls.

“I’m pleased to say that my cyber crimes investigators working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have taken another child predator off of the streets,” said Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. “The work we are doing every day in coordination with our local, state, and federal partners is truly making the Internet a safer place for Kentucky kids.”

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 Cyber Crimes Unit. 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.”