Former Vancouver, Washington Resident Receives 10-Year Federal Sentence for Interstate Travel to Have Sex with Minors

PORTLAND, OR—A former construction worker from Vancouver, Washington, Nathaniel Edward Juhl, 28, appeared before U.S. District Judge Garr M. King today and received a 10-year prison sentence on his plea of guilty to interstate travel with the intent to have sex with minors. Judge King further ordered a five-year period of supervised release after completion of the prison term.

Juhl came to the attention of undercover FBI agents, posing as 13- and 14-year-old girls, when he met them in an online chat room in May 2006. Soon thereafter, Juhl began a series of sexually explicit conversations which culminated in his invitation to meet the girls at the Sunset Transit Station in Beaverton, Oregon. On October 22, 2006, Juhl drove from his construction site with the stated intent of picking up the girls and transporting them to his Vancouver residence for sexual activity. Instead, agents arrested him when he arrived at the transit station. A later FBI search of his personal computer revealed a collection of over 800 images of child pornography.

While on court-ordered pretrial release in 2008, Juhl failed to appear for trial and became a fugitive. In April 2009, police arrested him in Kingman, Arizona, where he was working for a traveling carnival. He has been in federal custody since the 2009 arrest.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood employs 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.

In addition to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this case was investigated by the Beaverton Police Department, working as part of the Innocent Images Initiative to investigate and combat child exploitation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen F. Peifer.