7 day forecast
Man charged in attempt to molest young boy
-
Sherwood Stevenson, 72, of Clinton, is charged with traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
Share with others:
The FBI in Pittsburgh has charged a Beaver County man with traveling to Florida and then taking an international cruise so that he could molest a little boy.
Sherwood Stevenson, 72, of Clinton, is charged with traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
During a detention hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Francis X. Caiazza ordered Mr. Stevenson to remain incarcerated pending trial.
"It appears there has been a series of incidents whereby the defendant here has had contact with young males ... which shows he does pose a danger to the community," the judge said.
Mr. Stevenson is accused of going to a children's area of the Liberty of the Seas ship, operated by Royal Caribbean, on Dec. 18 and getting into a Jacuzzi to molest a boy.
FBI Special Agent Tom Carter said video surveillance of the area shows Mr. Stevenson getting into the Jacuzzi next to a 6-year-old boy, putting his arm around him and then pulling him onto his lap.
The boy was there two to three minutes before two adults entered the area, and he ran away, Agent Carter testified. The agent said Mr. Stevenson admitted fondling the boy under his swim trunks and forcing the boy to touch him.
Mr. Stevenson was interviewed by FBI agents in Miami, but was not arrested. Instead, the report was forwarded to the Pittsburgh office.
Agent Carter said he went to interview Mr. Stevenson at his 90-acre, rural property in January. It was then, the agent said, that Mr. Stevenson told him he purposely took the cruise so he could have a sexual encounter with a young boy.
Marketa Sims, assistant federal public defender, argued to Judge Caiazza that the government's evidence was weak.
The boy from the Jacuzzi was interviewed by a forensic psychologist and never said he was touched inappropriately. Further, she said, the boy Mr. Stevenson described for Agent Carter -- as being 10 to 12 years old and in orange swim trunks -- did not match the alleged victim.
"The only evidence you have this man touched any boy is this man's statement," she said.
She noted that her client is being treated with both anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medication.
During the hearing, Agent Carter outlined Mr. Stevenson's criminal record.
The most recent incident was May 20, when Robinson police were called to the Cinemark theater after a father attending a movie with his son saw Mr. Stevenson sitting one seat away from the boy with his hand down his pants for 10 minutes.
Though Mr. Stevenson told police he had an itch, he also told them he likes to look at young boys. Officers asked for permission to search Mr. Stevenon's vehicle, where they found pornographic images of young males.
Mr. Stevenson was charged with open lewdness and disorderly conduct.
Also, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Hopewell following an April 2006 incident in which the school athletic director found Mr. Stevenson on school premises. He was accused of taking a shower in the boy's locker room and was said to have frequently watched middle school wrestling matches.
FBI has asked anyone with information about Mr. Stevenson to call the FBI at 412-432-4000.
First Published June 24, 2010 12:00 am
