Marine Corps Lance Corporal Sentenced To More Than 15 Years In Federal Prison For Attempting To Entice A 13-Year-Old Child To Produce And Send Him Sexually Explicit Photos Of Herself

Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced David Wayne Hogle, Jr. (30, Cherry Point, NC) to 15 years and 10 months in federal prison for attempting to entice an individual whom he believed was a 13-year-old child to produce sexually explicit photos of herself and send them to him over the internet. Hogle was also ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release, pay $26,500 in restitution to child victims, forfeit his electronic devices, and register as a sex offender. Hogle was arrested on July 29, 2022, at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point in North Carolina and was transported to Jacksonville for prosecution. Hogle had pleaded guilty on March 23, 2023. 

According to court documents, on July 13, 2022, an FBI agent in Jacksonville began an undercover investigation to identify individuals who were using the internet to engage in the sexual exploitation of children. This FBI agent (UC) posted a message in a public chat room on a particular social media application (“app”) posing as the “mother” of a 13-year-old child. Using the screen name “Kaligula,” Hogle responded, “Interested in domination, degrading, breeding, inc’est, and very young girls.” When asked about his age preference for children, Hogle responded, “No lower age limit.” The UC explained that her daughter was 13 years old, and Hogle replied, “Typically [I] like younger …” After exchanging phone numbers, Hogle texted the UC, “So when do I get to see … your daughter?” Hogle sent the UC a hyperlink to a cloud storage account that contained 28 photos of infants and toddler-aged children being sexually abused.

Two days later, Hogle texted the UC, who was also portraying the “child.” Hogle typed, “I understand your only 13, so there is going to be a lot of things you still need to learn. I [am] happy to teach you about them.” Hogle then requested that the “child” take a “naughty pic” of “her” genitalia for him. The following day, Hogle texted the “child,” asking again for an explicit photo of “her.” To demonstrate what kind of picture that he wanted the “child” to take, Hogle sent the “child” a photo of his own genitalia.

The FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) confirmed that Hogle was a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps stationed at MCAS Cherry Point. Hogle accessed the internet during his online conversations with the UC while onboard MCAS Cherry Point.

On July 29, 2022, Hogle was arrested by FBI agents onboard MCAS Cherry Point. During an interview, Hogle admitted, among other things, that he had sent the UC a hyperlink containing child sexual abuse materials to show to the “child,” that he directed the “child” to take a picture of her “privates,” and that he was sexually interested in children. A search of Hogle’s computer revealed that it contained 162 images and 45 videos, many of which depicted infants, toddlers, and young children being sexually abused.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville, Florida and Greenville, North Carolina, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown. Assistant United States Attorney Mai Tran handled the forfeiture of Hogle’s electronic devices.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 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.justice.gov/psc.