NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – GRAHAM LOVELACE, age 33, of Greenville, South Carolina, was charged on March 3, 2022 in a one-count bill of information with interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, announced United States Attorney Duane A. Evans.
According to the bill of information, in October 2021, LOVELACE traveled from Greenville, South Carolina to the Greater New Orleans, Louisiana area by automobile for the purposes of engaging in sexual conduct with a fifteen-year-old minor.
If convicted, LOVELACE faces a maximum term of imprisonment of not more than thirty (30) years, followed by a minimum of five (5) years and up to a maximum lifetime term of supervised release, up to a $250,000 fine and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee. LOVELACE may also be required to register as a sex offender.
United States Attorney Evans reiterated that the bill of information is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
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 United States 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.
The case is being investigated by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Assistant United States Attorneys Jordan Ginsberg and Melissa Bücher.