Miami Man Arrested for Soliciting a “Child” for Sex

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Bill McCollum, Florida Attorney General, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, and Robert Parker, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department, today announced that defendant, Carlos Mauricio Abarca, 34, was charged with using a facility and means of interstate commerce to solicit someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422(b). If convicted, Abarca faces a minimum of 10 years’ imprisonment, and up to life imprisonment.

According to information contained within the criminal complaint, Abarca began conversing with an undercover investigator from the Florida Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit in an Internet chatroom, believing he was talking to a 13-year-old girl from Orlando. Abarca began soliciting the “child” for sex and asking her to travel to Miami for a sexual encounter with him. He engaged in sexually graphic conversation with her, and provided a sexually graphic picture as well. He ultimately made arrangements for her to take a bus from Orlando to Miami and was waiting at the bus terminal for her arrival when he was arrested.

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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Mr. Sloman commended the collaborative efforts of the Florida Attorney General’s Office, the FBI, and the Miami-Dade Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sivashree Sundaram.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.