Virginia Man Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Traveling to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct and Possession of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—Kaylan Joseph Cureton, 25, of Richmond, Virginia, was sentenced today to four years in prison on federal charges of traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr.; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Cureton pled guilty in August 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Robert L. Wilkins. Upon completion of his prison term, Cureton will be required to serve six months of home confinement. He also will be placed on 10 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender for 15 years.

According to the government’s evidence, on May 24, 2012, Cureton contacted an undercover officer with the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force who had entered a social networking site. Over the next several days, Cureton engaged in online e-mail, instant message, text message, and telephone conversations with the undercover officer, whom Cureton believed was the father of an under-aged child. During this period of time, Cureton arranged with the undercover officer to meet for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with the child. He traveled from Richmond to a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C., where he was arrested.

Upon execution of a search warrant on Cureton’s residence, members of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force recovered a USB drive containing numerous videos of child pornography.

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 FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD. Project Safe Childhood is 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 U.S. 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, 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 Parlave, and Chief Lanier praised the MPD detectives and special agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Ari Redbord, who prosecuted the case.