Searsport Man Sentenced for Attempting to Transfer Obscene Material to a Minor

 BANGOR, Maine:  A Searsport man was sentenced in federal court today for attempting to transfer obscene material to a minor, Acting U.S. Attorney Donald E. Clark announced.

U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. sentenced Nicholas Norwood, 35, to a year and a day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Norwood pleaded guilty on November 14, 2019. 

According to court records, in April 2019, Norwood, formerly of Frankfort, used a mobile messaging service to send an image of his genitalia to an undercover federal agent posing as a 13-year-old girl.  

The Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office and the Maine State Police investigated the case.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.justice.gov/psc.