Massachusetts man facing up to life in prison for placing ad to have sex with children

A Massachusetts man faces between 10 years to life in federal prison when he is sentenced in U.S. District Court in Providence after pleading guilty on Wednesday to an indictment charging him with attempted enticement of a minor, attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor, and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Appearing before U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., Cody J. Hansen, 38, of Orange, MA., admitted that he posted an online classified advertisement seeking to connect with “someone that likes to play when the girl is passed out.” In May 2018, he engaged in a series of online communications with a person who responded to his posting; Hansen believed this person to be the father of 12 and 8-year-old girls living in Rhode Island. The father provided Hansen with an email address he could use to contact the 12-year-old girl. In actuality, Hansen was communicating with an undercover Rhode Island State Police (RISP) detective assigned to the Rhode Island Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

Hansen admitted to the court that he engaged in a series of email communications with someone whom he believed to be the 12-year-old girl, admitting that these email communications turned sexually graphic and included an obscene photo of his genitalia. Hansen then arranged with the RISP detective, still acting as the girl, to travel to Rhode Island on May 21, 2018, to engage in sex with the girl and her younger sister.

According to information presented to the court, on May 21, 2018, the RISP detective and Hansen spoke by telephone, during which time Hansen confirmed that he was traveling to Rhode Island the next day with the intention of having sex with his daughters. When he arrived at the agreed upon location, he parked his car next to the detective’s vehicle and got into the front passenger seat of the detective’s car. In conversation with the detective, Hansen confirmed that he knew the ages of the girls that he came to meet and to have sex with. He was immediately arrested by members of the ICAC Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations.

Hansen, who has been detained since his arrest, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17, 2022. Attempted enticement of a child is punishable by statutory penalties of a minimum of 10 years up to life in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release. Attempted transfer of obscene material is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment to be followed by 5 years of federal supervised release. Travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct is punishable by up to 30 years imprisonment and a lifetime of supervised release.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dulce Donovan