James LaFrance, 65, pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced Friday in Springfield federal court.
According to the office of the Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell, LaFrance befriended two teenagers online – one from Massachusetts and one from Pennsylvania – and encouraged them to “engage in sexually explicit conduct during video chat sessions” in 2018 and 2019. The office says LaFrance “recorded the girls’ actions on his computer and provided specific directions as to what they were to do on camera.”
The case is a part of an initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice known as Project Safe Childhood, intended to curb child sexual exploitation and abuse.
