Former High School Wrestling Coach Sentenced for Sending Obscene Material to Minor
BOSTON / Monday, March 30, 2026 – A Burlington, Mass. man was sentenced on March 26, 2026 for sending obscene material to an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl on Kik messenger.
Stephen James Lemelin, 51, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In December 2025, Lemelin was convicted of three counts of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. Lemelin was arrested and charged in May 2024 and subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2024.
Over the course of five months, Lemelin –a Burlington High School wrestling coach at the time – sent sexually explicit messages and obscene material over Kik Messenger to an undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old girl. In the messages, Lemelin sent three separate obscene photographs of his genitals to the purported child and proposed meeting in person for sex.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by Customs and Border Protection and the Arlington, Boston, Brookline, Burlington, Salisbury and Winchester Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys David G. Tobin and Eric L. Hawkins 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.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts
