District Man Sentenced To 14 Months In Prison For Arranging For Sexual Contact With A Minor

      WASHINGTON - Patrick Henderson, 38, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 14 months in prison for arranging for a sexual contact with someone he believed to be a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Debra Evans Smith, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office, and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

      Henderson pled guilty in October 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of arranging for a sexual contact with a real or fictitious child. He was sentenced by the Honorable Gladys Kessler. Following completion of his prison term, Henderson will be placed on 10 years of supervised release. He also will be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

      According to the government's evidence, on Nov. 21, 2011, Henderson contacted an undercover officer with the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force, who had entered a social network site.  Over the next several days, Henderson engaged in online and telephone conversations with the undercover officer, whom he believed had access to an under-aged boy from Virginia.  During this period of time, Henderson arranged with the undercover officer to meet for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with the boy.

      On Nov. 30, 2011, Henderson traveled from his apartment, to a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C.  When he arrived at the meeting place, he was arrested.

      This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD. 

      Project Safe Childhood is 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 the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

      In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Acting Assistant Director in Charge Smith and Chief Lanier praised the MPD Detectives and Special Agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force.  They also commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Julieanne Himelstein, who prosecuted the case.