According to court documents, in April 2017, Threatt began
conversing through the Kik Messenger mobile app with an individual who
identified herself as “Sarah,” a 15-year-old girl who was interested in online
games, soccer, and track. Off and on over the course of many days, Threatt used
Kik to tell “Sarah” the various sexual things he wanted to do to her. He
discussed and agreed with the purported minor that he would visit her residence
on Beale Air Force Base while her mother was away. According to the Kik chat,
Threatt suggested blindfolding her and tying her up with rope. He stated that
he would engage in various sexual acts with her and proposed that they take
photos and a video of their sexual activity. Threatt arranged to meet her at
her residence on May 12, 2017, after her mother had left for the weekend.
Unbeknownst to Threatt, the minor was actually an undercover
law enforcement agent. On the day of the planned meeting, law enforcement
personnel surveilled Threatt as he left his home in Fairfield, purchased rope
from a home improvement store, and drove
to the house where the meeting with the minor was to occur. Threatt was
arrested after he pulled into the garage of the house. In his car, agents found
cameras, a tripod, rope, and condoms.
According to court documents, this was not the first time
Threatt attempted to prey on a child. Agents searched Threatt’s residence and
seized a computer hard drive containing approximately 800 internet chats from
2008. Together, those communications showed he had been communicating with
several girls under the age of 18. In those communications, Threatt discussed
how he wanted to have sexual relations with the underage girls and repeatedly
solicited and received nude photographs from at least one minor. In addition,
in 2013, Threatt was arrested after he used email to attempt to persuade an
undercover law enforcement officer that he believed to be a 15-year-old girl to
meet with him to have sex. Threatt was prosecuted in state court for that
offense.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Air
Force Office of Special Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew D. Segal, Jeremy J. Kelley, and Katherine T.
Lydon prosecuted the case.
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, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and
local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit
children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about
Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the
“resources” tab for information about internet safety education.
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