Home Buffalo Press Releases 2010 Rochester Man Pleads Guilty in Abusive Sexual Contact on High Seas Case
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Rochester Man Pleads Guilty in Abusive Sexual Contact on High Seas Case

U.S. Attorney’s Office September 27, 2010
  • Western District of New York (716) 843-5700

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Lucas George Wickes, 25, of Rochester, New York, pled guilty before United States District Judge David G. Larimer to a felony charge of abusive sexual contact on the high seas. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who is handling the case, stated that Wickes admitted that on or about January 1, 2007, while on board the Disney "Wonder" Cruise Ship 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.

According to the criminal complaint, the minor and her family boarded the ship at Port Canaveral 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 complaint alleges that Wickes told the victim to follow him and she did, believing him to be a security officer with the cruise ship. After Wickes 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 plea was the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James H. Robertson.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 12, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. before the Hon. David G. Larimer.

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