Maine Man Charged with Attempted Sex Offenses Against a Minor

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jay Scott Cloutier, age 56, of Lyman, Maine, was charged today with attempting to entice and coerce a minor into committing criminal sex acts and traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of meeting a minor for sex.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

According to a criminal complaint, Cloutier used a social networking and online dating application, text messages and phone calls to attempt to entice and coerce an individual whom he believed to be a 14- or 15-year-old boy to engage in various sexual acts with him, and he traveled from Maine to Colonie, New York, with the motivating purpose of engaging in such sexual acts with the boy.  The charges in the complaint are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Cloutier appeared today in Albany before United States Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart, and was detained pending further proceedings.

If convicted, Cloutier faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison on the enticement charge and up to 30 years in prison on the traveler charge, a fine of up to $250,000, per charge, and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of at least 5 years and up to life.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

This case is being investigated by the FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alicia Giglio Suarez.

This case is prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.