SPRINGFIELD, Ill. –Chenmin Xie, 25, formerly of the 500 block of West Herndon Street in Springfield, Illinois, pleaded guilty on February 22, 2022 to the charge of knowingly using a facility and means of interstate commerce – the Internet and a cellular telephone – with the intent to transmit the name and address of another individual who had not attained the age of sixteen and doing so with the intent to attempt to entice, encourage, offer, and solicit that person to engage in sexual activity.
At the change-of-plea hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Schanzle-Haskins, Xie admitted that on August 29, 2020, he used a cellular phone to converse with a boy he believed was fifteen years old. During the conversation, they agreed to meet for sexual intercourse at the minor’s residence. Xie then requested and received the child’s address.
Since being arrested on August 29, 2020, Xie has remained in the custody of the United States Marshals. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 24, 2022, at the U.S. Courthouse in Springfield.
Xie faces statutory penalties of not more than five years’ imprisonment, not more than a $250,000 fine, not more than three years of supervised release, a $100 mandatory special assessment, and a $5,000 special assessment unless deemed indigent.
The charges were the result of investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations; the Springfield Police Department; and the Illinois State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanner Jacobs is representing the government in the prosecution.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. 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.