Dewitt Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Coercion and Enticement of a Child and Possession of Child Pornography

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Derek Indivero, age 27, of Dewitt, New York, pled guilty today to one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a child and one count of possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, Special Agent-in-Charge James N. Hendricks of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and New York State Police Superintendent Keith Corlett.

In entering his guilty plea today in United States District Court, Indivero admitted that in February of 2018 he began communicating with a middle school student using the Snapchat online messaging application.  Over the messaging application Indivero offered the student $50 in exchange for sexual contact.  Indivero then met with the minor, engaged in the sexual contact, and paid the child $49.

Later that same month, law enforcement officials took over the middle school student’s Snapchat identity and, posing as the child, continued messaging Indivero. During the course of a Snapchat conversation, Indivero offered to pay the child $50 in exchange for oral sexual conduct, and then drove to a location to meet with the child for that purpose.  Instead of finding the child, Indivero encountered law enforcement officials, and was arrested.

As part of his guilty plea, Indivero also admitted that he possessed images of child pornography that he obtained from the Internet using his cellular telephone.  A search of his cellular telephone revealed that he possessed 37 videos depicting child pornography.

Sentencing is scheduled for February 20, 2020, in Syracuse, New York. Indivero faces a mandatory minimum of ten years, and up to life imprisonment for attempted coercion and enticement of the middle school student, and up to 20 years of imprisonment for possession of the child pornography he obtained from the Internet.  Sentences of imprisonment may be concurrent or consecutive at the discretion of the Court. The Court must also impose a term of supervised release of between five (5) years and life, and Indivero will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the New York State Police in coordination with the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office and the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey J. L. Brown

This case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood.  Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and is designed to marshal 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.