CALIFORNIA – A 31-year-old man who kidnapped a toddler in the middle of the night, sexually abused him at a motel, outdoors and in his truck, was convicted Friday, federal officials announced Friday.
Shawn McCormack, 31, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was found guilty following a four-day trial of four counts of sexual exploitation of a child and two counts of kidnapping, officials stated.
Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii set McCormack’s sentencing for July.
During the trial, the evidence indicated the following happened:
- McCormack, pretending to be a friend, traveled to the child’s family’s residence in Bakersfield, California.
- He stayed there as an overnight guest on multiple occasions.
- During several of the overnight stays, in the middle of the night, McCormack snuck the couple’s toddler out of the house and recorded his sexual abuse of the toddler in a nearby motel, outdoors and in his truck.
- McCormack then returned the toddler to the house before the parents awoke.
- McCormack distributed the images and videos of his abuse to others online, including an undercover officer with the Toronto Police Services.
Homeland Security Investigations agents in Boston found images and recordings distributed by McCormack on a separate defendant’s computer in Massachusetts, officials stated.
The agents were able to identify the date, time and hotel room where one of the videos had been produced.
When agents visited that hotel, they learned that McCormack had rented that hotel room on the night when the recording was created, according to authorities.
During the investigation, agents uncovered evidence that McCormack had recorded his abuse of both of the couple’s children.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.