BOSTON, MASSACHUSETS – A Wareham man pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston yesterday to possessing child pornography.
David St. Jacques, 56, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for Sept. 24, 2021. St. Jacques was charged by criminal complaint and has been in custody since his arrest in September 2020. St. Jacques was subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2020.
A search of St. Jacques’s residence on Sept. 29, 2020 resulted in the seizure of a computer, three phones and one thumb drive. St Jacques destroyed at least two other drives and attempted to destroy one of his phones when agents arrived to execute the warrant. St. Jacques admitted to exchanging child pornography with other individuals on various chatting applications, and child pornography was discovered during the forensic review of devices that were still intact.
In March 2009, St. Jacques was convicted in Plymouth County Superior Court of several counts of dissemination and possession of child pornography.
Due to the prior felony conviction, St. Jacques faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to 20 years in prison, five years and up to life of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti, Mendell’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and Deputy Chief of the Major Crimes Unit, is prosecuting 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/.