United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California

10/04/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/04/2024 16:44

Long Beach Man Pleads Guilty to Traveling With 14 Year Old Girl Across State Lines While Intending to Engage in Sexual Activity

LOS ANGELES - A Long Beach man pleaded guilty today to federal criminal charges for traveling with a 14-year-old runaway from Arizona - whom he met in a Reddit internet forum - across state lines to his apartment, where he engaged in criminal sexual activity with her.

Trevon Nathaniel Langstaff, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

"Every day, sexual predators use the internet's relative anonymity to prey on vulnerable youth," said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. "Would-be predators should be aware that my office will use all of its tools to bring them to justice, and, as today's sentence shows, the consequences will be severe."

According to his plea agreement, in late March 2024, Langstaff drove from his Long Beach home to Peoria, Arizona, to pick up the victim, a 14-year-old girl. Langstaff knew the victim was 14 and instructed her to pretend to be 18 years old.

Intending to have sexual intercourse with the victim, Langstaff transported her from Arizona to his home in Long Beach, where he engaged in sexual intercourse with her.

On Langstaff's cellphone, which was seized on March 26, law enforcement found an image that appeared to portray two children engaged in sexually explicit activity.

United States District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha scheduled a March 7, 2025, sentencing hearing, at which time Langstaff will face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison. Langstaff has been in federal custody since March 27.

The FBI and the Long Beach Police Department investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Kathrynne N. Seiden of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section is prosecuting this case.