PORTLAND, Maine — A Rhode Island man indicted in October on one count of crossing interstate lines to have sex with a minor, admitted to the federal crime on Monday, U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty said in a statement.
William McNeill, 23, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court to the charge of traveling in interstate commerce to engage in sexual conduct with a minor.
In the fall of 2014, McNeill met a 14-year-old girl from Cumberland County online and conducted “several weeks of communicating with the juvenile in a sexually explicit manner,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
On or about Oct. 18, 2014, “McNeill traveled from North Carolina to Maine to meet and have sexual relations with her,” the statement issued Monday said.
He was arrested in Massachusetts in November 2015 and was indicted the following month by a federal grand jury in Portland.
The joint investigation was conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Bridgton Police Department, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
McNeill faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.