New Mexico Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Sexual Exploitation of a Child

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Albuquerque, New Mexico, man was sentenced in federal court today for transporting a 13-year-old victim from Henry County, Mo., across state lines to engage in illicit sexual activity.

Raymond C. Vallia, III, 56, of Albuquerque, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to 20 years in federal prison without parole.

On Nov. 17, 2015, Vallia pleaded guilty to transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity.

On March 29, 2015, deputies with Henry County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department responded to a report of a missing 13-year-old female, identified in court documents as MV. During the course of the investigation law enforcement agents determined that MV met Vallia through a social networking Web site and that he had picked up MV at her home with the intent that they would live in an apartment in New Mexico.

New Mexico State Police saw a vehicle matching the description of Vallia’s vehicle on Interstate 40 in New Mexico on March 30, 2015. At that time the vehicle was pulled over, MV was recovered and Vallia was arrested.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine A. Connelly. It was investigated by the FBI, the Henry County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the New Mexico State Police and the Amarillo, Texas, Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."