Bronx Man Sentenced to 24 Years in Prison for Sexually Exploiting Minor

BOSTON – A Bronx, N.Y. man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography, as well as traveling with the intent to engage in illicit conduct with the minor victim.

Markell Greene, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to 24 years in prison and five years of supervised release. In October 2023, Greene pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit conduct. 

“It is hard to find the words to capture how horrific and reprehensible Mr. Greene’s conduct was here. Through social media he targeted a 12-year-old girl and then he proceeded to entice her to send him sexually explicit photos and videos. And as if that was not bad enough, he then travelled from New York to rape this child while he was recording his deviant behavior on Snapchat. It does not get much more despicable and depraved than that.  Thanks to the bravery of this victim, Mr. Greene will be behind bars for many years and not able to terrorize other young girls,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy.

“Markell Greene is a monster, and no sentence will ever wipe away the untold heartache, pain, anxiety, and fear that he inflicted upon this young child and her family,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. “That said, today’s sentence does remove a dangerous predator from our community for a significant amount of time, and highlights the FBI’s ongoing commitment to ensure that sexual predators are held accountable for their crimes. Our Child Exploitation – Human Trafficking Task Force will continue to do what it can to prevent children from being sexually abused and exploited.”

Greene persuaded, enticed and coerced a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography. Additionally, on or about Feb. 14, 2022, Greene traveled in interstate commerce with a motivating purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with the minor victim. 

In late 2021, Greene sent an unsolicited Snapchat message to the then-12-year-old minor victim, who believed Greene to be approximately 16 years old. Over the course of several months, Greene manipulated the minor victim into sending sexually explicit photos and videos of herself at his request. Greene also directed the minor victim to brag about her age during the sexually explicit videos.  

In February 2022, Greene persuaded the minor victim to meet him in-person at a parking lot in Arlington. On Feb. 14, 2022, Greene arrived to the agreed upon meet up in an SUV, picked up the minor victim and parked the car in an adjacent parking lot. There, Greene raped the minor victim and forced her to engage in oral, vaginal and anal sex, which he recorded on Snapchat. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Levy and FBI SAC Cohen made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Arlington, Mass. and New York City Police Departments; the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke A. Goldworm of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.

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 the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.