BANGOR, Maine — A 42-year-old New Hampshire man on Friday admitted in federal court that he came to Maine in May to sexually assault a 13-year-old girl.
Chad Amodio, of Northwood, New Hampshire, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of travel with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Amodio will be held without bail until sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set.
According to court documents, Amodio and a 13-year-old girl in northern Maine in March began “having inappropriate sexual conversations with two adult men on a website intended for men and women to chat and exchange photographs.” The police were notified and a Bangor detective assumed the role of the girl, referred to as “Minor A” in court documents.
“Shortly after their conversations began, the defendant asked if Minor A would allow him to have sex with her,” according to the prosecution version of event to which he pleaded guilty. “The defendant would go into detail about performing various sexual acts with Minor A. He also asked if she could have sex with Minor A while she wore her cheerleading uniform.”
When Amodio asked for the girl’s address and her mother’s schedule, the detective posing as the girl gave him the address of an apartment building abandoned due to a recent fire. Court documents do not state in what town in Penobscot County the building was located.
When Amodio arrived on May 1 at that address, he found a building being torn down by heavy construction equipment, according to court documents. He drove to a self-storage parking lot and removed the mobile phone application he had been using to text Minor A while driving from New Hampshire to Maine.
“After leaving the parking lot, the defendant was pulled over and arrested,” the prosecution version of events said. “A search of his vehicle revealed a bottle of vodka, a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of lubricant. The defendant admitted that he had purchased these item in anticipation of his meeting with Minor A.”
Amodio faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.