30-year-old registered sex offender to face decades in prison after repeated sexual acts with 12-year-old, orchestrating murder-for-hire plot to silence her

PROVIDENCE – A 30-year-old registered sex offender, convicted in federal court for enticing a 12-year-old girl and orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot to silence her, was sentenced to 35 years in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

Chandler J. Cardente previously confessed to a federal judge that he lured the girl into multiple sexual encounters and later plotted her murder to prevent her testimony. Court records show that in summer 2021, posing as a 17-year-old, he contacted the victim via a messaging app, expressing interest in sexual contact. In December 2021, he met her near her middle school, drove her to various Rhode Island locations, and engaged in repeated sexual acts, leading to his arrest and detention at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI).

While incarcerated, Cardente spoke by phone with an accomplice, expressing his desire for the victim’s murder. In a conversation with an undercover officer, he stated she needed “to end up dead” as a witness, offering $200 in cash and $1,500 in equipment.

On March 20, 2025, Cardente pleaded guilty to enticement of a minor, committing a felony as a registered sex offender, and interstate murder for hire. U.S. District Court Senior Judge William E. Smith sentenced him to 420 months in prison and 30 years of supervised release, with the sentence effective from December 11, 2021, accounting for prior detention time.

Cardente faced both federal and state charges. On May 1, 2025, before Superior Court Justice David Cruise, he pleaded nolo contendere to six counts of first-degree child molestation, receiving a 60-year sentence with 35 years to serve and 60 years of probation.

The federal case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah, with investigations by Homeland Security Investigations, Warwick, Cranston, and Burrillville Police Departments, Rhode Island State Police, and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections Special Investigations Unit. Acting U.S. Attorney Bloom thanked the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General for aiding the federal prosecution.

This case falls under Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, coordinating federal, state, and local efforts to apprehend offenders and rescue victims.