TUCSON, AZ—On June 2, 2014, Keith Deshawn Anderson, 39, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins to 180 months’ imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, after having been found guilty by a federal jury on November 12, 2013, of four counts of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

The evidence at trial showed that the defendant transported a female minor from Arizona to Nevada multiple times for several months during 2011 and 2012 with the intent that the minor engage in criminal sexual activity with the defendant.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States 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 via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Sierra Vista Police Department. The prosecution was handled by Nicole Savel and Karen Rolley, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Tucson.