Indian National Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Attempting to Entice a Minor to Engage in Illegal Sexual Activity

ERIE, Pa. - An Indian national has been sentenced in federal court to 12 years in jail and 10 years supervised release on his conviction of attempting to entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.

United States District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter imposed the sentence on Upendra Aduru, 32.

According to information presented to the court, from September 20, 2022, to October 6, 2022, Aduru, an Indian national in the United States on a student visa, communicated via social media with a detective posing as a thirteen-year-old girl. During the communication, Aduru repeatedly expressed his desire to engage in sexual activity with the purported thirteen-year-old and even sent the undercover detective several images of adult pornography. Aduru also repeatedly sought to meet with the girl and eventually traveled to a park in Millcreek Township after setting up a meeting with the girl. He was arrested after his arrival and a search of his phone revealed the social media communications between Aduru and the undercover detective.

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 (CEOS), 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.justice.gov/psc.

Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

United States Attorney Olshan commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Erie Police Department, the Millcreek Police Department, the Erie County Detectives, the Shaler Township Police Department and the Allegheny County Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Aduru.