Vermont Sex Offender Sentenced to More Than 20 Years on Attempted Enticement and Child Pornography Convictions

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Dennis Lavigne, age 57, of Derby, Vermont, was sentenced today to 250 months in prison for attempting to coerce and entice a minor, as well as transportation of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of his prior guilty plea, Lavigne admitted that in 2000, he pled guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a victim less than 10 years of age and was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison (suspended except for 90 days).  He further admitted that between November 19-24, 2019, he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with someone he believed was the mother of an 11-year-old child.  In these messages, Lavigne expressed a desire to engage in sexual acts with the child.  On November 24, 2019, Lavigne traveled from Vermont to Albany, with the intent to engage in sexual acts with the presumed child.  Lavigne was subsequently arrested and further admitted to transporting child pornography files, which law enforcement officials recovered from Lavigne’s phone.  Many of the child pornography files featured the rape and sexual abuse of prepubescent minors, including infants.

United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino also imposed a life term of post-imprisonment supervised release and ordered Lavigne to pay restitution to the victims of the child pornography offenses. 

This case was investigated by the FBI Albany’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the Colonie Police Department, Rotterdam Police Department, Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office, and the New York State Police.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rachel L. Williams as part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and is designed to marshal 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.