A Long Beach man has pleaded guilty to a federal charge after authorities say he took a runaway underage girl he met online across the state border from Arizona and engaged in criminal sexual activity with her in his apartment.
Trevon Nathaniel Langstaff, 33, who was arrested in March, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Langstaff contacted the girl through a Reddit forum for runaways and then drove to Peoria, Ariz. — a suburb of Phoenix — to pick her up, according to a plea agreement. He instructed the victim, who he knew was 14 years old, to pretend to be 18, according to the agreement.
Her parents reported her missing on March 26, prosecutors said. After reaching out to her friends for information on her whereabouts, they learned she had told them she was planning on running away.
The girl also told a friend she had met a man who helped harbor runaway teens and had offered to provide her with a cellphone and room, according to an affidavit filed in March.
On March 27, authorities searched Langstaff’s apartment and found the girl hiding in his closet, according to the affidavit. The victim told authorities she and Langstaff had engaged in sexual activities at the apartment, according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors say an image that appeared to portray two children engaged in sexually explicit activity was also found on Langstaff’s cellphone. A phone record search also revealed numerous contacts between the victim and Langstaff, according to the affidavit.
The matter was investigated by the FBI and the Long Beach Police Department.
Langstaff is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on March 7 and faces up to 30 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
“Every day, sexual predators use the internet’s relative anonymity to prey on vulnerable youth,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said in a statement Friday. “Would-be predators should be aware that my office will use all of its tools to bring them to justice, and, as today’s sentence shows, the consequences will be severe.”