Leah B. Foley United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts | Department of Justice
Stephen James Lemelin, a former Burlington High School wrestling coach, was sentenced on March 26 to two years in prison for sending obscene material to an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl on Kik messenger.
Lemelin, age 51, will also serve three years of supervised release following his prison term. He was convicted in December of three counts of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. Lemelin was arrested and charged in May and indicted by a federal grand jury the following month.
According to court records, over five months Lemelin sent sexually explicit messages and three separate photographs of his genitals via Kik Messenger to the undercover officer he believed was a minor. He also proposed meeting the purported child in person for sex.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston Division, announced the sentencing. Several local police departments and Customs and Border Protection assisted with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys David G. Tobin and Eric L. Hawkins prosecuted the case.
The case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse by coordinating efforts among federal, state, and local agencies.
