New York man pleads guilty to transporting Colerain teenager with intent to engage in sexual activity

CINCINNATI – Kyle D. Lawrence, 43, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty in federal court in Cincinnati today to transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Lawrence was arrested in late February after investigation into a missing Colerain teenager revealed he was previously involved with the minor. Transporting a minor with the intent to engage in sexual activity is punishable by at least 10 years in prison. According to court documents, on Feb. 16, Colerain Township police began investigating the circumstances surrounding a missing teenager. Officers reviewed video surveillance from the minor’s home and discovered that in January, the teenager entered a black Jeep Grand Cherokee with New York license plates. License plate readers and receipts confirm that Lawrence rented the vehicle and that he and the minor stayed at a Cincinnati hotel together on Jan. 31. It was discovered that Lawrence was the subject of a report to the FBI in May 2024. Lawrence was confronted by a citizen vigilante group while in Canada for traveling to Canada to have sexual contact with a purported 15-year-old girl. Agents in Buffalo had previously been in contact with Lawrence in response to the report. Further investigation by the FBI revealed two cyber tip reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding Lawrence’s Snapchat account and child exploitation activity. On Feb. 26, FBI agents in Buffalo executed a federal search warrant at Lawrence’s residence and seized several electronic devices, which contained child sexual abuse material. Court documents detail that Lawrence told agents he communicated with the minor from Colerain on Snapchat and traveled to the Cincinnati area twice in January to meet up. He used the location services on Snapchat to locate the minor when he picked her up. Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jason Cromartie, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Colerain Township Police Chief Edwin C. Cordie III and Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson announced the guilty plea entered today before U.S. District Judge Matthew W. McFarland. This was a joint investigation being conducted by the FBI divisions in Cincinnati and Buffalo, Colerain Township Police Department, New York State Police and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). Assistant United States Attorney Kyle J. Healey is representing the United States in this case. This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc . # # #