Ontario Man Charged with Transportation of a Minor with Intent to Engage in Sexual Activity

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that David Allen Vickers, 49, of Stanley, New York, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with transportation of a minor with intent to engage in sexual activity. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, from 2000 to 2004, the defendant, an over-the-road truck driver took a minor victim on trips to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Canada and engaged in sexual activity with the minor. During an initial appearance this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Vickers pleaded not guilty. The defendant will remain in custody pending a detention hearing on May 20, 2013, at 11 a.m.

If you are aware of any children that have had contact with the defendant, or, if you are now an adult and had contact with the defendant when you were a minor, please call the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 1-800-320-0682 and leave a message with your contact information.

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.justice.gov/psc.

The arrest was the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Richard M. Frankel, Acting Special Agent in Charge; special agents of the U.S. Secret Service, under the direction of Tracy Gast, Special Agent in Charge; and detectives of the Batavia Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief Shawn Heubusch.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.