Vermont Man Expected 11-Year-Old in Albany Hotel Sex Sting, Sentenced to 11 Years

A Vermont man has been sentenced to 132 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to entice a minor online, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of NY.

A Vermont man has been sentenced to 132 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to entice a minor online, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York.

Gabriel Charron, 53, of Milton, Vermont, admitted to engaging in sexually explicit conversations with individuals he believed to be a mother and her 11-year-old daughter. Prosecutors say that between May 2022 and March 2023, Charron used online messaging platforms to communicate with them in an attempt to arrange a meeting with the child for illegal sexual activity.

On March 4, 2023, Charron traveled from Vermont to a hotel in Albany County, where he expected to meet the child. He was taken into custody by law enforcement shortly after arriving at the location.

In addition to his prison sentence, Charron will serve 20 years of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender upon release.

The investigation was led by the Albany office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Belliss prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2006 to combat child exploitation. The program works with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to identify and prosecute individuals who exploit children online.