West Warwick man sentenced to prison for attempting to entice boy to engage in sexual activity

PROVIDENCE – A West Warwick man who admitted to attempting to entice a minor boy he communicated with online to engage in illicit sexual activity was sentenced today to 10 years in federal prison.

Dylan J. Harris, 27, admitted that in January 2017, he engaged in a series of sexually explicit online communications with an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old boy. At Harris’ request, he arranged to meet the boy in a secluded Warwick park and to engage in sexual intercourse.

The person Harris thought to be a 14-year-old boy was, in fact, a member of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

On January 5, 2017, at Harris’ request, Harris and the supposed 14-year-old agreed to meet that afternoon. As Harris arrived at the pre-arranged location, police activated their cruiser lights and sirens in an attempt to initiate a motor vehicle stop. However, Harris took off and took several evasive actions while driving in the park in an attempt to avoid being stopped. At one point, while traveling at a high rate of speed, Harris turned his vehicle in the direction of a police detective, narrowly missing him and causing the detective to leap out of the way. Harris eventually lost control of his vehicle and came to a stop when he rolled onto a grass embankment.

Harris pled guilty on June 28, 2019, to attempted inducement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity. Harris was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., to 120 months in federal prison to be followed by lifetime supervised release.

Harris’ sentence is announced by United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police Colonel James M. Manni, and Homeland Security Investigations Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Molina.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.

The matter was investigated by the Rhode Island State Police ICAC Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations.