Batavia Man Pleads Guilty to Transporting Individual in Interstate Commerce to Engage in Illegal Sexual Activity

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Timothy Logsdon, 29, of Batavia, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard H. Arcara, to transporting an individual in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual activity. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maura K. O’Donnell, who is handling the case, stated that an investigation began in September 2012 when the parents of a 16-year-old female reported her missing to the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department. During an interview with special agents from the FBI, the victim’s parents indicated that she might be with the defendant.

Pursuant to a court order, law enforcement officers traced Logsdon’s cell phone to a specific vicinity. Later that same day, the defendant was discovered by the Kentucky State Police in Bowling Green, Kentucky, along with the victim. Logsdon admitted to officers that he was in the process of transporting the victim to the state of Tennessee, where the two planned to live together and carry on a relationship. The defendant was placed under arrest and remains in custody.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

The arrest is the culmination of an investigation by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel, and the Genese County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Gary Maha

Sentencing is scheduled for August 5, 2013, at 1:00 p.m. before Judge Arcara.