New York Man Charged With Child Exploitation Offense

BOSTON – A Queens, N.Y., man has been charged for allegedly travelling across state lines to engage in illicit sexually conduct with a 13-year-old minor in Massachusetts. Andre Jamal Bennett, 33, was charged with interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. Bennett was arrested yesterday in the Eastern District of New York and remains detained pending a future hearing. According to the charging documents, Bennett is employed by Delta Air Lines as a ground controller at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. In September 2025, Bennett allegedly created multiple social media accounts – including two Instagram accounts and a Snapchat account – using the fictitious name “Chris.” Using the accounts, it is alleged that Bennett falsely presented himself to be a 16-year-old boy allegedly to contact the minor victim. In November 2025, Bennett allegedly took a flight from New York City to Boston. Upon landing in Boston, Bennett allegedly contacted the minor victim, informed her that he was in the area and coerced her into meeting him in person. When Bennett met the minor victim, who still believed he was “Chris,” the 16-year-old boy he had purported to be online, Bennett allegedly wore a hooded sweatshirt that concealed his face. According to the charging documents, Bennet then brought the minor victim to a hotel and raped her. Bennett also allegedly recorded the sexual assault on his phone. Following the encounter, Bennett allegedly continued to contact the minor victim through social media over the course of several months and sought to entice her to meet with him again, including by offering to pay her. The minor victim refused. The charge of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case. United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Michael Cox, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the FBI’s New York Field Office and United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke A. Goldworm, of the Major Crimes Unit and Project Safe Childhood Coordinator, is prosecuting the case. The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov . The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law.