Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Online Enticement
| U.S. Attorney’s Office March 19, 2009 |
RICHMOND, VA—Michael Paul Kruger, 31, of Cason, Texas, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to attempted online enticement of a minor. Kruger faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on June 21, 2010, by Chief United States District Judge James R. Spencer. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia made the announcement.
According to court documents, Kruger contacted an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) special agent posing as an 11-year-old girl in a pre-teen Internet chat room. From September 2008, through October 2008, via Yahoo! Instant Messaging chats, Kruger initiated and continued an online relationship with the undercover agent posing as a minor located in Richmond, Virginia. In those chats, Kruger routinely discussed, in explicit detail, engaging in sexual acts with the undercover agent’s 11-year-old persona. In October 2008, Kruger informed the undercover agent that he had imminent plans to travel from Missouri to Virginia for the purpose of having sex with her, though Kruger never followed through with the travel. While the chats initially ended in October 2008, they began again in May 2009. The next month, in June 2009, while communicating with the undercover agent via instant messaging chat, Kruger appeared on his web cam, undressed from the waist down, and masturbated on camera. Additionally, at all times relevant to this offense, believing the agent to be an 11-year-old girl, Kruger asked the agent to send him nude photographs of herself.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth C. Wu prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.