A federal judge sentenced a Framingham, Massachusetts man to 17 years in prison without the possibility of parole October 2 for his role in sexually exploiting 150 underage boys. The Westminster, Delaware Police Department was led to Curtis Simoneau after a report from a parent who believed that his son was being victimized. At that point, the FBI was contacted. The resulting investigation revealed that Simoneau was pretending to be a 14-year-old girl and convinced the teenagers to send him nude photos and videos that featured the boys masturbating.
It was not the first time Simoneau, 24, has been convicted of a child pornography charge. In 2010, when Simoneau was 17, he collected child porn and traded it with others, claiming he was doing so to get photos of teenage girls. He received a light sentence. Simoneau did not do as well the second time around.
Search warrant of sex offender's home reveals more sexually exploited victims
The Westminster teen believed that he was involved in a relationship with Lauren James, a 14-year-old girl from Maine, according to the probable cause affidavit. When she offered to exchange nude photos, the boy did not pass up the opportunity. The two continued to communicate through a Kik messaging application.
When the FBI was able to determine that the messages to the Delaware boy were coming from Simoneau, investigators applied for a search warrant, and the search opened the door to the discovery of more victims. Simoneau was dealing in child porn from a laptop computer at his mother's home. When agents arrived, Simoneau pointed them in the direction of the laptop, according to the affidavit.
"The reason you're here," Simoneau said. You're gonna find it on the desktop of that laptop."
Sex offender lost count of how many boys he had fooled
The agents asked Simoneau if there were more victims. He said there were, but when asked how many, Simoneau said, "I don't know. I don't count," according to the probable cause affidavit.
After that, the Massachusetts man stopped volunteering information. Investigators discovered more than 1,800 videos or images of child pornography.
The Delaware child whose parent initiated the probe acknowledged to investigators he was the person who was in two nude photos and a video, in which he masturbated. He also revealed he had introduced a 12-year-old friend of his to "Lauren James." Of the more than 150 child pornography victims turned up by the investigation, most appear to have been contacted by Simoneau using his feminine pseudonym. After Simoneau completes his 17-year sentence, he will be released under supervised probation for another 10 years, according to a Department of Justice news release.
