Colorado Man Indicted for Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Minor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Colorado man was indicted by a federal grand jury today after traveling to Kansas City, Mo., to meet an undercover FBI agent, whom he believed to be a mother with her 7-year-old daughter, for sex.

Ryan Edward Mausner, 42, of Basalt, Colo., was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Mausner on May 25, 2018.

The federal indictment charges Mausner with one count of attempting to entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, and one count of traveling across state lines with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, Mausner was actually communicating (via the Kik messaging application and texts) with an undercover FBI agent, who portrayed a single mother with a 5-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter. Mausner allegedly engaged the undercover agent in several private chat sessions in which he said he wanted to engage in sexual activity with the mother and daughter.

In the course of these chats, the affidavit says, Mausner made numerous sexually suggestive or overtly sexually explicit comments including BDSM terminology about the mother and daughter.

Mausner traveled from Denver, Colo., to Kansas City, Mo., on May 25, 2018, and arrived at Kansas City International Airport at about 5 p.m.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Daly. It was investigated by the FBI.

Project Safe Childhood
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 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.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."