Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Traveling into the District of Columbia to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct

Defendant Also Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—Kaylan Joseph Cureton, 24, of Richmond, Virginia, pled guilty today to federal charges of traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr.; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Cureton entered the guilty plea in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Robert L. Wilkins scheduled sentencing for November 5, 2012. Cureton faces a maximum of 30 years of imprisonment for traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct and 10 years for possession of child pornography, as well as fines of $250,000 on each charge. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces a likely sentencing range of 63 to 78 months in prison.

According to the government’s evidence, on May 24, 2012, Cureton contacted an undercover officer with the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, who had entered a social network site. Over the next several days, Cureton engaged in online e-mail, instant message, text message, and telephone conversations with the undercover officer, whom Cureton believed was the father of an underaged child. During this period of time, Cureton arranged with the undercover officer to meet for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with the child. He traveled from Richmond to a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C., where he was arrested. Upon execution of a search warrant on Cureton’s residence, members of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force recovered a USB drive containing numerous videos of child pornography.

This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD. Project Safe Childhood is 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director McJunkin, and Chief Lanier praised the MPD detectives and special agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Ari Redbord, who is prosecuting the case.