The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Sean Guillette, 57, of Burlington, Vermont was sentenced today to 188 months’ imprisonment by Judge Christina Reiss in United States District Court. Today’s sentencing proceeding followed Guillette’s guilty plea in October 2021 to receiving child pornography, also referred to as child sexual abuse material. Judge Reiss also imposed a 16-year term of supervised release to begin after Guillette’s release from prison and ordered Guillette to pay a total of $12,000 in restitution to four victims who were depicted in the images that Guillette received.
According to court records, Guillette sought and downloaded dozens of images and a video of child sexual abuse material on various occasions between November 2018 and April 2019. After Guillette had an encounter with officers from the Burlington Police Department in April 2019, Guillette attempted to remotely delete these materials. Analysis of a cell phone and online account belonging to Guillette revealed images of sexual abuse of children ranging in ages from infant to teenager.
Guillette has multiple prior State of Vermont convictions for lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and has previously served 17 years in jail. These prior offenses included two convictions for groping young girls in public places. Despite having access to treatment for sex offenders while in custody, Guillette failed to complete the treatment and was terminated from the program. Then, in June 2019, after getting out of jail after serving the 17-year sentence, Guillette approached a young girl in a store and groped her.
Nikolas P. Kerest, United States Attorney, commended the investigatory efforts of Homeland Security Investigations, the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Burlington Police Department. The prosecutors are Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicole Cate and Nate Burris. Guillette is represented by Devin McLaughlin, Esq.
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 Child Exploitation Obscenity Section, Criminal Division (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.justice.gov/psc.