Canadian Jailed After Flying To ATL To Meet Marietta Teen For Sex

ATLANTA, GA - Yves Joseph Legault has been sentenced for coercing and enticing the production of child sexual exploitation images over the Internet. Federal attorneys said Thursday that in July 2017, Legault, 54, met a 13-year-old Marietta girl on the website Omegle, a free online and anonymous text and video chat tool. After moving their communications to Google Hangouts, Legault asked the teen to perform sexual acts on live video-streaming for him. He eventually arranged to travel from Canada to Atlanta in order to have sex with the girl.

On August 11, 2017, Legault was arrested after flying from Toronto into Atlanta. The 13-year-old girl’s mother had alerted agents with the FBI to the relationship after she intercepted a package he sent her daughter from Canada. A federal grand jury charged Legault on August 15, 2017.

Federal agents then discovered Legault was also engaged in coercive and enticing chat and message exchanges with an eight-year-old girl residing in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Legault asked the girl to engage in sexually explicit behavior while the two were chatting over a live-streaming communication device. He was subsequently charged in the Southern District of Mississippi with one count of coercing and enticing the production of child pornography.

Legault has been sentenced to 16 years in prison to be followed by supervised release for life, a $200 special assessment, and he will be deported to Canada upon completion of his sentence. He pled guilty to both federal cases in the Northern District of Georgia on Sept. 18, 2018, and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Orinda D. Evans.

The case was also brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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