US — Lawrence, Massachusetts. A transgender youth, who seven months ago urged locals to vote “yes” on a veto referendum enabling those who identify as transgender to access locker rooms and similar facilities designated for the opposite sex, has now been slapped with Sexual Exploitation Of Child and Distribution Of Child Pornography charges.

19-year-old Jakob Nieves, a man who identifies as a woman, “did knowingly employ, use, persuade, induce, entice and coerce” a four-year-old girl “to engage in any sexually explicit conduct” with him “for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct,” court records show.

Jakob Nieves, a 19-year-old man who identifies as a woman named Dakota, is accused of raping a four-year-old girl and sharing the images with an undercover agent.

Mr Nieves began exchanging messages with another person in a Kik group created for those interested in trading images of pedophilia, the United States Department of Justice website reported. Kik is a mobile messaging app.

As the chat progressed, Mr Nieves allegedly shared with the conversation partner images of a small child performing indecent acts on his penis.

Unbeknownst to Mr Nieves, the conversation partner was an undercover federal agent. The transfer of photos portraying him engaged in illegal acts with a minor sparked a federal investigation, the criminal complaint says.

On August 14, 2019, federal agents obtained a warrant to search the home of Mr Nieves, which is located on the 200 block of Lawrence Street. The search produced a phone, which agents say contains photos and videos of Mr Nieves sexually violating a minor girl in the bedroom of his home.

Christina DiLorio-Sterling, spokeswoman for US Attorney Andrew Lelling, says Mr Nieves admitted to agents during the search that he had made and distributed the obscene material.

If convicted on both counts, Mr Nieves faces anywhere from 20 and 50 years behind bars, up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

Mr Nieves is being held in federal custody.

Jakob “Dakota” Nieves

Massachusetts Question 3, Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Veto Referendum (2018), was approved in November 2018, with 1,806,742 or 67.82% of voters marking “yes” on the ballot to uphold the state’s gender identity policy. The Massachusetts policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in places of public accommodation, including such sex-specific areas as restrooms and locker rooms. The penalty for each violation ranges from up to $100 and / or up to 30 days in prison to $2,500 and / or up to a year in prison. In addition, a civil penalty of between $10,000 and $50,000 may be imposed on each violation.

UPDATE

A year after the arrest of Mr Nieves, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced that he pleaded guilty on August 26, 2020 “to two counts of sexual exploitation of children, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.” According to the state’s press release, which was published by the United States Department of Justice, Mr Nieves will be sentenced on December 26.

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BOSTON – A Lawrence resident accused of sexually exploiting a 4-year-old by forcing the child into sex acts and taking photographs and video of the acts, was charged Thursday in federal court.