Skip to main content
Press Release

Virginia Man Sentenced To 33 Months In Prison For Traveling Into The District Of Columbia To Engage In Illicit Sexual Conduct With A Minor

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia

     WASHINGTON – Michael Angel Gutierrez, 50, of Lorton, Va., was sentenced today to 33 months in prison on a federal charge of traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). 

     Gutierrez pled guilty to the charge in October 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable James E. Boasberg. Upon completion of his prison term, he will be placed on five years of supervised release. Gutierrez also will be required to register for 15 years as a sex offender.

     According to the government's evidence, on Aug. 28, 2014, Gutierrez contacted an undercover officer with the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force, who had posted an ad on a social network site.  Over the next few days, Gutierrez engaged in e-mail, phone, and text message conversations with the undercover officer, whom the defendant believed was the father of an under-aged girl. During this period of time, Gutierrez arranged with the undercover officer to meet for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with the child.

     On Sept. 3, 2014, Gutierrez traveled from his apartment in Virginia to a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C.  When he arrived at the meeting place, he was arrested.

     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.  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 in Charge McCabe, and Chief Lanier praised the work of the MPD Detectives and Special Agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Ari Redbord, who prosecuted the case.

15-017


Updated February 19, 2015