California Man Sentenced to 80 Months in Prison For Traveling Into the District of Columbia To Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct With a Minor

            WASHINGTON – Raymond Carter, 73 of Rancho Cordova, Calif., was sentenced today to 80 months in prison on a charge of traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips, Paul M. Abbate, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Peter Newsham, Interim Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Carter pled guilty in September 2016, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan. Upon completion of his prison term, Carter will be placed on 10 years of supervised release. He also will be required to register as a sex offender for 25 years upon his release from prison.

            According to the government's evidence, on May 6, 2016, Carter began communicating with an undercover officer with the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force who purported to have access to a juvenile. Carter then began a series of text message conversations with the undercover officer in which he indicated that he would be traveling to Washington, D.C.  As their conversations continued, he arranged to meet on May 10, 2016. When he arrived at a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C., he was arrested. He has been in custody ever since.

            During his conversations with the undercover officer, according to the government’s evidence, Carter made reference to a previous arrest that led to his conviction in another federal child exploitation case. In that case, which was filed in the Eastern District of California, Carter was sentenced in 2005 to a three-year prison term and ordered to register as a sex offender.

            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.  In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, 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 Phillips, Assistant Director in Charge Abbate, and Interim Chief Newsham praised the work of the MPD Detectives and Special Agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea L. Hertzfeld, who is prosecuting the case.