Virginia Beach Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Enticing a Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity, and Witness Tampering

NORFOLK, VA—Shawn F. Engle, age 32, of Virginia Beach and Gates County, North Carolina, pled guilty today in Norfolk federal court to three counts of a superseding indictment charging him with sexual exploitation of a Pennsylvania minor, enticing a South Carolina minor to engage in sexual activity, and witness tampering. Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, also announced that, pending acceptance of the plea agreement, sentencing is scheduled before Senior United States District Judge Robert G. Doumar on November 30, 2009. Engle faces up to a maximum of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $750,000, and a lifetime of supervised release.

During 2008, Engle sought to enter into sexual relationships with two minor girls who lived outside the Commonwealth of Virginia. At that time, Engle was 30-31 years of age, while the two minors were 13 and 17 years old, respectively. After meeting both girls on the Internet, Engle mostly communicated with them by telephone text messaging, until such time as he sought physical contact with them. During April 2008, Engle traveled from Virginia to Pennsylvania on two separate occasions to meet the 17-year-old minor. On the second of these visits, Engle picked up the minor, provided her with alcohol, and encouraged and persuaded her to engage in sexual activity with him, which he videotaped. After spending the weekend with the minor, Engle returned to Virginia Beach with the video camera and the sex tape.

During August 2008, Engle turned his attentions to the 13-year-old minor from South Carolina. At Engle’s prompting and after a family crisis, this minor decided to run away and requested that Engle pick her up. Engle did so and brought her to Virginia Beach. He then transported the minor to a relative’s home in Gates County, North Carolina, where the minor was found by Gates County authorities on September 16, 2008. Five weeks later, on October 24, 2008, Virginia Beach police arrested Engle on a kidnapping warrant out of South Carolina, and seized a video camera later found to contain the videotape showing Engle with the 17-year-old minor. While detained in Virginia Beach, Engle learned of a federal investigation into his activities and called and wrote letters to one of the victims and various witnesses attempting to get them to lie about his involvement and activities with the two minors. In a letter to the 13-year-old victim, Engle also wrote about past sexual activities that he engaged in with the minor, and attempted to induce her to engage in such activities in the future, upon his release from incarceration.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Virginia Beach Police Department, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, and the Gates County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Krask and Katherine Martin are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.