Massachusetts Man Sentenced to More Than 10 Years in Prison for Attempting to Sex Traffic a Minor at a Manchester Hotel

CONCORD - Haverhill, Massachusetts resident Ozeias Guilherme, age 40, was sentenced yesterday to 121 months in prison for attempting to sex traffic a 12-year-old at a Manchester hotel, United States Attorney Erin Creegan announces. After a four-day trial in April of 2026, Guilherme was convicted of one count of attempted sex trafficking of a minor and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. United States District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe presided over the trial and announced the sentence, which also included a 5-year term of supervised release.

On November 14 and November 15, 2024, in a proactive law enforcement operation, agents posted and monitored an advertisement on a website commonly used to advertise commercial sex. The advertisement contained images of what appeared to be two minor females, and a contact phone number. Law enforcement agents monitored this line and used it to communicate with potential sex buyers, including Guilherme. During a text conversation between an undercover agent and Guilherme, the agent stated that she had a 12-year-old girl available to perform sex acts in exchange for money. The agent then provided Guilherme with the address of a hotel in Manchester. Once at the hotel, the defendant met with an undercover agent and showed her $100 cash, the amount agreed upon to pay for the commercial sex act.

"This defendant preyed on children, ready to pay money to sexually assault a little girl, and will now be spending significant time behind bars as a result," said Erin Creegan, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire. "Our office is committed to working with all our partners to combat child sexual exploitation to the maximum extent the law allows."

"Ozeias Guilherme actively sought out a 12-year-old child to sexually abuse. He planned, he negotiated, and he travelled to New Hampshire to meet a little girl who he was fully prepared to assault for cash. Thankfully, he never had the opportunity to follow through on his plan and, after today's sentence, he will be spending the next decade in prison," said Homeland Security Investigations New England Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Grimming. "This case was only made possible through the coordination and commitment of our local law enforcement partners and the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Together, we are working to protect children and bringing predators like Guilherme to justice."

Homeland Security Investigations led the investigation. Manchester Police Department, the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, and the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force provided valuable assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Hunter and Matthew Vicinanzo prosecuted the case.

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. 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.