Pasco Man Who Attempted to Meet a 13 Year Old for Sex at Richland Hotel Sentenced to Federal Prison

Richland, Washington - On October 15, 2024, Chief United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian sentenced Julio Cesar Anaya, age 45, of Pasco, Washington, to 84 months in federal prison on child exploitation charges. Chief District Judge Bastian also imposed a lifetime of supervised release.

According to court documents and information presented at the sentencing hearing, in March of 2022, a Kennewick detective working with the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (SER-ICAC) working in an undercover capacity as a 13-year-old girl, posted an ad on a website that is a well-known platform for sexual encounters. Anaya responded to the ad and began communicating with the detective, believing the detective to be a 13-year-old girl. Over the next three weeks, Anaya repeatedly discussed engaging in sexual intercourse with the child and requested that the child send him child pornography-that is, naked pictures of herself. Anaya also attempted to persuade the person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl to come to his house in Pasco. In one particularly deliberate act, he even offered to pay for her Uber.

Ultimately, Anaya said he planned to rent a hotel room in Richland near her home to facilitate a meeting with the girl. On April 11, 2023, Anaya booked a hotel room in Richland, told the purported child the hotel location and instructed her when to arrive. He also shared his detailed plans to engage in sex with the child.

On April 12, 2023, Anaya arrived at the hotel and checked in. A few moments later he was placed under arrest by detectives with the Richland Police Department. Anaya was carrying two cell phones and two bags when he was arrested. A search warrant for his bags revealed that he had brought with him massage oil, condoms, erectile dysfunction medication, lubricant, and hand sanitizer. In Anaya's primary phone, he had communications with the purported 13-year-old; in his other phone he had saved more than 300 images of child pornography involving minor children - including infants and toddlers.

"Mr. Anaya booked a hotel room in Richland and made detailed plans to meet a person he believed was a 13-year-old child for illicit sex. Further investigation revealed Mr. Anaya was in possession of dozens of videos and images showing the sexual exploitation of young children," stated U.S. Attorney Waldref. "I'm grateful for the important and difficult work that detectives on the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force do everyday to prevent horrific victimization of children, remove dangerous offenders from our community, and protect the most vulnerable among us."

"It is incredibly fortunate that this child predator's attempt at victimizing a person whom he believed to be a teenage girl was thwarted by our law enforcement partnerships," said Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees HSI operations in the Pacific Northwest. "The devasting impact of online predators cannot be overstated. This sentence sends a strong message that abusing children will not be tolerated, whether it is downloading and possessing child pornography, trying to meet children for sex, or any other form of child exploitation."

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 U.S. Attorneys' Offices and 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.

This case was investigated by the Southeast Regional ICAC Task Force, consisting of Homeland Security Investigations and the Richland and Kennewick Police Departments. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laurel J. Holland.

4:23-cr-06023-SAB