North Carolina Man Charged with Transportation of a Minor and Enticement of Minor

ROCHESTER, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury in Rochester has returned a two-count Indictment charging William Herbert Schliebener, Jr., 49, of Sanford, North Carolina, with transportation of a minor across state lines and enticement of a minor using a means and facility of interstate commerce. Each charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $250,000 fine.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who is handling the case, the indictment alleges that between October 1 and October 2, 2010, the defendant knowingly transported a minor from Canandaigua, New York to the state of North Carolina with the intent to have sex with the minor. The indictment further alleges that between September and October 2010, Schliebener, used the Internet and a cell phone to knowingly persuade, induce, coerce, and entice the minor to engage in sexual activity.

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 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.

The indictment is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of James H. Robertson, Special Agent in Charge, and police officers from the Canandaigua Police Department, under the direction of Chief Jonathan Welch.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.