MA Man Traveled To Providence For Sex With 10-Year-Old Girl: Feds

PROVIDENCE, RI — A Massachusetts man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for traveling to Providence in hopes of having sex with a 10-year-old girl, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Paul Fredericks, 38, "engaged in online communications with an individual he believed to be the father of (a) nearly 10-year-old girl and arranged to meet with him and his prepubescent daughter, with the intent to engage in illicit sexual activity," according to a media release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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But instead of a father planning to set up a rendezvous with his underage daughter and a man hoping to have sex with her, Fredericks, a resident of Taunton, was actually communicating with a detective assigned to the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force., the release said.

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In October 2022, "Fredericks traveled to Providence and met with the purported father in a parking lot, where he discussed preparing the child for sexual activity," according to the release, and when they were finished talking, members of the task force and Homeland Security Investigations arrested the Taunton man.

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A forensic examination of Fredericks' phone revealed that he had received and possessed child sexual abuse material, the release said.

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Fredericks pleaded guilty in August 2024 to attempted enticement of a minor, interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography, according to the release.

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