Concord man who engaged in and filmed child sexual exploitation gets 20 year prison sentence

A Concord man was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison for sexual exploitation of a minor and possessing child sexual abuse images.

Scott Wilkinson, 39, pleaded guilty in October to charges after an investigation revealed that in April 2022 he had traveled to New Jersey and engaged in sexual acts with a child, then 12 years old, who he had been speaking to online for a year prior, according to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice. Wilkinson took videos of the sexual exploitation, which police found on his cell phone alongside other images and videos of child sexual abuse.

“The pain and trauma that Wilkinson caused the survivor and the survivor’s family is inconceivable,” U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire Jane Young said in a statement. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to prioritize cases that involve harming children, and we will work tirelessly to obtain justice for survivors of heinous crimes like those committed by the defendant.”

In addition to the prison sentence, Wilkinson was required to pay $6,000 in restitution and received ten years of supervised release following his jail time. He faced a potential maximum sentence of up to 30 years, a fine of up to $250,000 and lifetime supervised release. 

Young’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Jersey brought the case under Project Safe Childhood, a 2006 federal initiative coordinating federal, state and local resources to “better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.” 

The investigation was led by the police department in Egg Harbor Township — located on the southern New Jersey shore near Atlantic City — and the FBI, with assistance from Concord Police.