Convicted Rapist Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Coercing a Minor to Engage in Sex

Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Michael Allen Alper, age 35, of Silver Spring, Maryland, today to14 years in prison, followed by supervised release for life, for coercing a minor to engage in sex. Judge Titus ordered that upon his release from prison, Alper must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Police Chief David M. Rohrer of the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Department; and Chief Teresa Chambers of the U.S. Park Police.

According to Alper’s plea agreement, in the fall of 2003 when Alper was 27 years old and living in Virginia, he met a 13 year old girl and 14 year old girl on separate internet websites, who each lived in Virginia. On separate occasions, Alper caused each victim to sneak out of her house and meet him in his car, which he parked at the end of each victim’s street. Alper took the 14 year old victim into a nearby woods where he forced her to engage in a sex act. Alper continued to chat with the victim online and met the victim a second time and had sexual intercourse with her. He had sex with the 13 year old victim in the back seat of his car. That victim reported the rape to her school counselor. Alper was convicted of statutory rape in Fairfax County, Virginia, and sentenced to three years in prison, with all but six months suspended, and three years supervised probation.

In February 2010, a month after Alper’s probation ended from the 2003 rape conviction, Alper, who was then 33 years old, attended an anime and gaming conference at a hotel in Oxon Hill, Maryland. He met another 13 year old girl (the third victim), introducing himself as Michael Allen and contacted her afterwards on Facebook using that same name. On March 26, 2010, Alper arranged via the internet and cell phone for the victim to travel to a train station in Washington, D.C. Alper picked her up and drove her to his home where he engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the victim. Alper and the victim continued to communicate on Facebook. On March 31, 2010, while the victim stayed overnight at a friend’s house, Alper contacted the victim via Facebook and convinced the victim to sneak out of her friend’s house to meet him. Alper drove the victim to a wooded area where he engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the victim before returning the victim to her friend’s home. The victim later discovered Alper’s true identity when a friend found Alper’s sex offender registration under his real name.

After Alper’s identity as a sex offender was discovered, Alper created another on-line profile in the fictitious name of Veronica Lacy. As Veronica Lacy, Alper contacted the third victim and expressed concern that the police may be contacted; lied about the charges that led to the sex offender conviction; and advised that third victim that Alper couldn’t afford to get into trouble because his father was ill.

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 individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the ICE HSI, the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Department and U.S. Park Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney LisaMarie Freitas, assigned from the Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacy Dawson Belf, who prosecuted the case.