Springfield Man Sentenced To 11 Years For Attempting To Induce Two Children To Engage In Illegal Sexual Activities

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Kenneth A. Brauckmann, 51, of Springfield, Virginia, was sentenced today to 132 months in prison for attempting to coerce and entice two children to engage in illegal sexual activities.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Clark Settles, Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Washington; and Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., Fairfax County Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

Brauckmann pleaded guilty on May 13, 2014.  According to court documents, in November 2013, Brauckmann used a social networking website to contact a user he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, who was in fact an undercover Fairfax County police detective.  Through online and text messages with the user, Brauckmann made arrangements to engage in sexual activities with her and her 13-year-old friend in his car.  Brauckmann repeatedly requested nude photographs of the two girls.  On Nov. 4, 2013, Brauckmann drove to a movie theater in Fairfax County, where he believed the two girls would meet him, and was arrested.

In court documents, Brauckmann admitted that he had engaged in similar illicit behavior with actual female children from whom he requested sexual encounters and nude photographs, and that, from January 2005 through his time of arrest, he engaged in multiple sexual conversations with others claiming to be girls between 13 and 16 years old.

This case was investigated by the Fairfax County Police Department and ICE-HSI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Maya D. Song 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:14-cr-166.