Man Sentenced for Traveling from Massachusetts to New York to Have Sex with a Child

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Anthony Beckwith, age 36, of Sheffield, Massachusetts, was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for traveling in interstate commerce to have sex with someone whom he believed to be a 12- or 14-year-old girl.

The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon; Jodi Cohen; Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and New York State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen.

In pleading guilty, Beckwith admitted to communicating with a man he believed to be offering his 12- or 14-year-old stepdaughter for sex.  As arranged with the man, Beckwith drove from Sheffield to Albany to have sex with the child on February 1, 2019, but drove off after observing what he believed to be law enforcement.  He was later arrested and ultimately admitted to traveling to Albany with the intent to have sex with the child.

United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino also sentenced Beckwith to a 10-year term of supervised release, to begin following his term of imprisonment, and ordered him to pay $5,100 in assessments.  Beckwith will also be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

This case was investigated by the FBI and New York State Police, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyrus P.W. Rieck.