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Press Release

Utah Man Pleads Guilty To Traveling Into The District Of Columbia

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia

To Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct With a Minor

     WASHINGTON – Marc Val Singleton, 35, of Salt Lake City, Utah, pled guilty today to traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). 

     Singleton entered the guilty plea in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  The Honorable Rosemary M. Collyer is to sentence him on Jan. 23, 2015. Singleton faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000.

     According to the government's evidence, on or about June 10, 2014, Singleton contacted an undercover officer with the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force, through a social network site.  Over the course of that one day, Singleton engaged in an instant message conversation with the undercover officer, whom the defendant believed was the father of an under-aged girl. During the course of this conversation, Singleton arranged with the undercover officer to meet for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with the child. 

     On June 10, 2014, Singleton traveled from a hotel in Bethesda, Md., where he was staying for a conference, 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.  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 guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director McCabe and
Chief Lanier commended the work of the MPD Detectives and Special Agents of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force. They also expressed appreciation for the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Ari Redbord, who is prosecuting the case.

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Updated February 19, 2015