Mississippi Man Sentenced for Sexually Assaulting a Minor on Cruise Ship

BOSTON – A Mississippi man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for sexually assaulting a minor during a cruise from Boston to Bermuda.

Adam Christopher Boyd, 32, of Bay Springs, Miss., was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf to 42 months in prison and five years of supervised release. In April 2019, Boyd pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a minor.

In August 2017, Boyd was a passenger on a seven-day cruise from Boston to Bermuda. While the ship was docked in Bermuda, Boyd sexually assaulted a minor passenger while the two were onboard the ship. The child subsequently reported that he had been raped to ship security, who notified Bermudian authorities. In the course of the Bermuda Police Service’s initial investigation, they arrested Boyd and notified authorities in the United States, where he was ultimately charged. Subsequent forensic testing revealed the presence of Boyd’s DNA in the minor victim’s underwear.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Office, made the announcement. Valuable assistance was also provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Bermuda Police Service, Massachusetts Port Authority and FBI Legat Bridgetown, Barbados, Sub Office Nassau. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti, Lelling’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and a member of the Major Crimes Unit, prosecuted the case.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.