A Long Beach man pleaded guilty to a federal charge after authorities said he took a runaway underage girl he met online across the state line from Arizona and engaged in criminal sexual activity with her at his apartment. .
Trevon Nathaniel Langstaff, 33, who was arrested in March, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
Langstaff contacted the girl through a Reddit forum for fugitives and then drove to Peoria, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, to pick her up, according to a plea agreement. He ordered the victim, who he knew was 14, to pretend to be 18, according to the agreement.
Her parents reported her missing on March 26, prosecutors said. After contacting her friends for information on her whereabouts, they learned that she had told them she planned to flee.
The girl also told a friend that she had met a man who helped shelter runaway teenagers and that he had offered to provide her with a cell phone and a room, according to an affidavit filed in March.
On March 27, authorities searched Langstaff's apartment and found the girl hiding in her closet, according to the affidavit. The victim told authorities that she and Langstaff had engaged in sexual activity at the apartment, according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors say an image that appeared to depict two children engaging in sexually explicit activities was also found on Langstaff's cell phone. A search of phone records also revealed numerous contacts between the victim and Langstaff, according to the affidavit.
The matter was investigated by the FBI and the Long Beach Police Department.
Langstaff is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on March 7 and faces up to 30 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
“Every day, sexual predators use the relative anonymity of the Internet to prey on vulnerable young people,” the US attorney said. Martín Estrada said in a statement on Friday. “Potential predators should be aware that my office will use all its tools to bring them to justice and, as today's sentencing shows, the consequences will be serious.”
