Canton Man Pleads Guilty to Trying to Send Obscene Pics to Minor

A 51-year-old Maine man has pleaded guilty to attempting to transfer obscene material to a minor.

Was He Actually Talking to a Teenager?

The U.S. Attorney's Office District of Maine identifies the man as Dale Carr of Canton. According to court records, Carr began chatting online with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl in September 2019. In reality, he was conversing with an undercover agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations who was posing as a minor. Officials say that, during their discourse, Carr repeatedly asked the agent, who he thought was an underage girl, to send him sexually explicit photos and videos. He also expressed an interest in having sex with them. In October of that year, he sent the agent a close-up photograph of his penis, thinking that he was sending it to the teen.

What Penalties Does He Face After Pleading Guilty?

He now faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, along with a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release. Carr will be sentenced after the completion of an investigation report by the United States Probation Office. A Federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Does This Happen A Lot?

According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the cases of online enticement reports increased by an alarming 97.5% between 2019 and 2020. They say this type of enticement can happen on a variety of platforms including social media, messaging apps, gaming platforms, and others.

This case was brought to law enforcement as part of Project Safe Childhood, which is a nationwide initiative to battle the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.