Canadian National Extradited To The United States Pleads Guilty To Production Of Child Sex Abuse Material And Enticement Of Minors

Tampa, Florida - United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Paul Creighton (67, Ontario, Canada) has pleaded guilty to production of child sex abuse material and enticement of a minor. Creighton faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years, up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, between 2012 and 2017, Creighton coerced and enticed a 14-year-old girl in Osceola County into an online relationship. Their interactions began over a messaging app and progressed to texting, emails, and phone calls. While the victim was a minor, Creighton repeatedly directed her to send explicit photos and videos of herself, including videos in which the minor was performing sexual acts. In April 2017, the victim confided in a friend about the relationship she had engaged in with Creighton. The friend notified a high school guidance counselor, who notified the victim's parents, who then immediately called law enforcement and provided the minor victim's cellphone and laptop to law enforcement.

After being discovered, Creighton advised the victim on what to say to her parents, to reset her phone, reformat her hard drive, and delete data from an online storage account. Creighton later threatened the victim and told her he would share her images and videos if the victim did not continue to speak to him.

In October 2017, FBI agents stopped Creighton as he landed at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC, traveling from Toronto. Agents searched his carry-on luggage and collected various electronic items from Creighton, who refused to provide passwords to those items. Agents obtained search warrants and conducted forensic reviews of those devices, which revealed photographs of the victim, online searches for the victim and her family, as well as numerous searches for other children throughout the United States.

On October 24, 2017-at the same time that Creighton was flying to Washington, DC, from Toronto-detectives with the Niagara Regional Police, in coordination with the FBI, executed a Canadian search warrant at Creighton's residence in Ontario. From his home, agents recovered hundreds of images of minor children, including the explicit images of the victim, as well as other minor victims.

Based on these images and the items found in his personal electronic devices, FBI agents identified a number of other minor victims throughout the United States that Creighton had victimized or obtained child sexual abuse material from, including in Florida, Virginia, Georgia, and California.

Creighton was taken into custody by Canadian authorities on November 12, 2020. On February 8, 2024, Creighton was extradited to the United States, and has been in custody since.

This investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tampa Field Office. Substantial assistance was provided by the Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs, the United States Marshals Service, and the Niagara Regional Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Diego F. Novaes.