January 28, 11

NEWS / Georgia Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Child Sex Abuse Offenses

WASHINGTON - Dwain D. Williams, 37, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands to life in prison for child sex abuse offenses, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore of the Middle District of Georgia.



Williams, of Pelham, Ga., was convicted on Aug. 19, 2010, by a federal jury in Valdosta, Ga., of one count of traveling in foreign commerce and engaging in illicit sexual conduct, one count of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact of a child under 12 years of age. The aggravated sexual abuse and the abusive sexual contact charges were committed while Williams was accompanying a member of the Armed Forces outside of the United States in violation of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA).



At trial, the female victim testified that Williams had repeatedly raped her starting from when she was nine years old until she was 13.



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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah McEwen of the Middle District of Georgia and Trial Attorney Mi Yung Park of the Criminal Division’s CEOS. The case was investigated by the FBI and the Office of Special Investigations for Moody Air Force.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/January/11-crm-122.html