A Long Beach man pleaded guilty Friday to a federal criminal charge for traveling with a 14-year-old runaway — whom he met in an internet forum — across state lines to his apartment, where he engaged in illicit sexual activity with her.
Trevon Nathaniel Langstaff, 33, entered his plea to one count of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In late March, Langstaff drove from his Long Beach home to Peoria, Arizona, to pick up the underage victim, according to his plea agreement filed in L.A. federal court.
Langstaff knew the girl was 14 and told her to pretend to be 18 years old, prosecutors said.
Intending to have sexual intercourse with her, Langstaff transported the girl from Arizona to his home in Long Beach, where he engaged in sex with her. Prosecutors said that on Langstaff’s cellphone, law enforcement found an image that appeared to portray two children engaged in sexually explicit activity.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, law enforcement received a report in March of a missing 14-year-old girl. The teen’s family searched for the girl in the neighborhood and reached out to her friends and learned that she had recently said she was planning to run away, according to prosecutors.