Home Washington Press Releases 2011 Virginia Man Sentenced for Traveling from Virginia to D.C. to Have Sex with 12-Year-Old Child
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Virginia Man Sentenced for Traveling from Virginia to D.C. to Have Sex with 12-Year-Old Child

U.S. Attorney’s Office March 09, 2011
  • District of Columbia (202) 252-6933

WASHINGTON—Mark Linek, 51, of Alexandria, Virginia, has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr.; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Linek pled guilty in October 2010, and was sentenced on March 8, 2011, by the Honorable Thomas F. Hogan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Hogan ordered that Linek be placed on 10 years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term.

According to a factual proffer of evidence presented during the plea hearing, on June 14, 2010, an MPD member of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, operating undercover and posing as a pedophile as part of the investigation, communicated with the defendant by instant messenger.

During the course of the communication, Linek expressed interest in meeting an underaged boy and engaging in sexual contact with the child. Linek also sent the undercover several videos of child pornography by instant messenger. On June 15, 2010, Linek traveled from Alexandria to a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C. When he arrived at the meeting time and place, he was stopped and placed under arrest.

This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the Metropolitan Police Department.

In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director McJunkin, and Chief Lanier commended MPD Detectives Timothy Palchak, Miguel Miranda, Jonathan Andrews, and Morani Hines, and the entire FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also commended Assistant U.S. Attorney David B. Kent, who is prosecuting this case.

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