Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Traveling into the District of Columbia to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct with a Minor and Possession of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—Chad Pyles, 22, of Arlington, Virginia, has pled guilty to 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).

Pyles pled guilty on February 20, 2014, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Richard J. Leon is to sentence him on May 16, 2014. Pyles faces a maximum sentence of 30 years of imprisonment for traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct and a maximum of 20 years for possession of child pornography, as well as potential fines.

According to the government’s evidence, on August 7, 2013, Pyles contacted an undercover officer with the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, who had posted an ad on a social networking site. Over the next few days, Pyles engaged in e-mail and text message conversations with the undercover officer, whom he believed was the father of an under-aged girl. Pyles arranged with the undercover officer to meet for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with that child.

During their communications, Pyles also sent the undercover officer five images of child pornography. On September 10, 2013, Pyles traveled from Virginia to a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C. When he arrived at the meeting place, he was arrested. Pursuant to a search of Pyles’s computer, law enforcement recovered several 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. 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 guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director Parlave, 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 is prosecuting the case.