Westchester Sex Offender Gets 25 Years For Enticement Of A Minor

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — A serial Westchester County sex offender is going to federal prison where he won't be able to abuse anyone else for a very long time.

Dean Picariello of Valhalla was sentenced on Tuesday to 25 years in prison for attempting to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity and committing a felony offense involving a minor while required to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Alfred A. Watson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the FBI, made the announcement.

As part of his earlier guilty plea, Picariello admitted that on November 4, 2020, he initiated a conversation with someone he believed to be a 12-year-old girl in a teen chat group on a popular social media messaging application. The 33-year-old began a sexually explicit conversation, graphically describing the sex acts he would perform on the 12-year-old child when they met in person.

In late November, Picariello began exchanging sexually explicit text messages with a second person posing as the 12-year-old girl’s 11-year-old cousin. On December 3, 2020, Picariello arranged to travel from Valhalla to Menands, to meet and have sex with the pre-teen cousins. When Picariello arrived at the prearranged meeting location in Menands, he was instead met by law enforcement officers and arrested.

Picariello has two prior New York State convictions for rape in the third degree, each involving a victim less than 17 years old.

U.S. District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby also imposed a life term of post-release supervision and ordered Picariello to forfeit the Samsung cellular phone he used to commit his crimes.

Picariello will also be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

This case was investigated by the FBI Albany’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the Colonie Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Allen J. Vickey and Rachel Williams prosecuted the case as a part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by U.S. Attorney's 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. More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found here.