Source: United States Department of Justice News
Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Andre Maurice Lewis (37, Orlando) has pleaded guilty to enticement of a minor. Lewis faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
According to the plea agreement, in January 2021, Lewis initiated a Snapchat conversation with the 12-year-old daughter of an acquaintance. Lewis did not reveal his true identity to the child and claimed to be 20 years old. Even though the child told Lewis how old she was, Lewis expressed an interest in meeting with her for sex. The child rebuffed Lewis’s sexual advances, telling him that he was making her uncomfortable and that she was “just a little girl.” Lewis continued to press the child and threatened to tell the child’s parent about their Snapchat conversation unless the child did as Lewis said. Lewis provided evidence that he knew the child’s parent, to underscore his ability to carry out his threats. Later in the evening, out of fear, the child livestreamed a sexually explicit video of herself at Lewis’s behest.
This case was investigated by the Orlando Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Secret Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily C. L. Chang.
This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.