Man Sentenced for Transporting Minor in Interstate Commerce to Engage in Illegal Sexual Activity

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Timothy Logsdon, 29, of Batavia, New York, who was convicted of transporting an individual in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual activity on April 18, 2013, was sentenced to 56 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maura K. O'Donnell, who handled the case, stated that defendant was convicted of this offense as a result of his attempting to transport a minor from Western New York to Tennessee for purposes of engaging in illegal sexual activity with the minor.

The investigation began in September 2012, when the parents of a 16-year-old girl female reported her missing to the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department and later indicated to the FBI that she might be with the defendant. Pursuant to a court order, law enforcement officers traced the defendant’s cellular telephone to a specific vicinity. Later that same day, the defendant was discovered by the Kentucky State Police in Bowling Green, Kentucky, along with the victim. The defendant admitted to law enforcement officers that he was in the process of transporting the victim to the state of Tennessee where the two planned to live together and carry on a relationship. The defendant was placed under arrest and remains in custody.

"This is an example of the success that alert parents and hardworking police can accomplish," said U.S. Attorney Hochul.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, 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 United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 arrest is the culmination of an investigation by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Richard M. Frankel, Acting Special Agent in Charge, and the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Gary Maha.