Federal Jury in Chicago Convicts Man of Sexually Exploiting Child He Met Online

CHICAGO — A federal jury in Chicago has convicted an Ohio man of enticing a 16-year-old Illinois girl into sending him sexually explicit images of herself.

ANDREW BOLTZ, 25, of Kenton, Ohio, was convicted Tuesday on all five counts against him, including four counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of receipt of child pornography.  Each exploitation conviction is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum of 30 years.  The child pornography conviction is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison and a maximum of 20 years.  U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey did not immediately set a sentencing date. 

Boltz began communicating with the then-16-year-old girl in January 2020 on the social media application Omegle.  Boltz continued communicating with her via text messaging and the social media application Snapchat.  During these communications, Boltz enticed the victim into sending him sexually explicit images of herself.  Boltz instructed the girl on what type of sexually explicit conduct should be portrayed in the images. 

Boltz was convicted after a six-day trial in U.S. District Court in Chicago.  The victim bravely testified at trial about being manipulated and degraded by Boltz.

The convictions were announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.  Valuable assistance was provided by the Peru, Ill. Police Department, the LaSalle County, Ill. State’s Attorney’s Office, the Wilmington, Ill. Police Department, the Will County, Ill. State’s Attorney’s Office, the Will County, Ill. Children's Advocacy Center, the Norwalk, Ohio Police Department, and the Cleveland, Ohio Field Office of the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elly M. Peirson, Edward A. Liva, Jr., and Kavitha Babu represent the government.

If you believe you are a victim of sexual exploitation, you are encouraged to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by logging on to https://www.missingkids.org/ or calling 1-800-843-5678.  The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.