Palm Beach County resident pleads guilty to production of child pornography and enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.
Frank Earle Noyes, III, 51, of Palm Beach County, pled guilty on Oct. 19, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in West Palm Beach, Florida, to one count of production of child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251 and one count of enticing a minor to engage in an illegal sexual activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422(b). Noyes is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 20, 2017. At sentencing, Noyes faces a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum term of up to 30 years in prison on the production of child pornography count and a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum term of up to life in prison on the enticement of a minor count.
According to documents filed with the court, Noyes entered into an online chat with a 12-year old minor female who lived in Minnesota. During the chat, Noyes sent the minor child pornographic images that he produced of a 5-year old minor engaged in illegal sexual conduct. Noyes was arrested and law enforcement found additional child pornographic images that he produced on his phone of a 3-year old minor female engaged in illegal sexual conduct. During the chat session with the 12-year old child, Noyes repeatedly enticed her to send him pornographic images of herself.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States 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.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, Plymouth Police Department, Minnesota, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and the South Florida Minor Vice Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lothrop Morris and Ellen Cohen.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
