Former dance instructor sentenced for sexual assault of a minor

January 29, 2016 12:32 pm

By News Staff

news@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A former dance instructor was sentenced Friday morning to 60 months in federal prison for traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

Keith Sampson, 37, of South Easton, Mass., Sampson pleaded guilty on November 10, 2015, to the charges.

Sampson admitted to the court that the 15-year-old victim had been left in his care by her mother, on the pretense that the teenager would be spending the night at Sampson’s Providence residence in the company of his wife and child. Instead, Sampson admitted that he drove the victim to the home of a relative in Easton, Mass., where he provided the victim with alcohol and then sexually assaulted her.

According to court documents and information presented to the court, the assault occurred while Sampson was awaiting trial in Massachusetts state court in an unrelated matter on two counts of statutory rape of a child. In that case, on January 10, 2008, a jury convicted Sampson of one count of statutory rape. He was sentenced to serve not less than four and not more than seven years imprisonment in Massachusetts state prison.

Additionally, based on the December 29, 2007, assault of his dance studio student, Sampson was indicted and charged in Massachusetts state court with rape of a child with force and providing liquor to a person under 21. He pleaded guilty on November 14, 2011, and was sentenced to not less than two-and-a-half and not more than three years imprisonment, to be served consecutive to the sentence he received as a result of his January 2008 conviction.

The judge also ordered Sampson to serve 10 years supervised release upon completion of his federal prison term, during which time he will be prohibited from being in the company without supervision of anyone under the age of 18. Additionally, Sampson must register as a sex offender.

The matter was investigated by the FBI, with the assistance of the Warwick, Rhode Island, and Easton, Massachusetts, Police Departments.