Man sentenced for going to RI for sex with minor

PAWTUCKET – A Brockton, Mass. man was sentenced Tuesday to 90 months in federal prison for traveling from Massachusetts to Pawtucket on multiple occasions to engage in illicit sex with a 15-year-old minor he met on the Internet in an online chat forum.

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith also ordered Andy J. Joseph, 26, to serve 10 years supervised release upon completion of his term of incarceration.

Joseph pleaded guilty on April 24 to two counts of traveling interstate with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

The range of imprisonment for this particular crime under U.S. sentencing guideline is 63 to 78 months. As stipulated in a plea agreement, the government and

the defendant recommended

the court impose a sentence of 90 months of incarceration.

Joseph’s sentence was announced by United States Attorney Stephen G. Dam-

bruch, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh, and Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves.

At the time of his guilty plea, Joseph admitted to the court that in June 2016, after meeting the victim in an online chat forum, he traveled from Massachusetts to Pawtucket on multiple occasions to engage in sex acts with the minor victim, and that he caused her to become engaged in commercial sex acts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Joseph posted advertisements for commercial sexual purposes on the website Backpage.com. These ads, paid for by Joseph, contained pictures of the 15 year-old victim and a cell phone number to call for the sexual services. This activity continued until Joseph’s arrest on Dec. 1, 2016.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence P. Donnelly.

The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and Pawtucket Police Department.