Source: United States Department of Justice News
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Raytown, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for enticing a 15-year-old victim to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Nathaniel Hibdon, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Hibdon to pay a $5,000 special assessment under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. Hibdon will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements, which may apply throughout his life.
On Sept. 2, 2021, Hibdon pleaded guilty to one count of enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Hibdon admitted that he met the 15-year-old victim on the Grindr application and communicated with him via Facebook Messenger. On at least two occasions in September 2018, Hibdon traveled to Kansas City, Kansas, to pick up the minor victim and bring him to Missouri to engage in illegal sexual activity. Law enforcement was alerted by a series of CyberTips made by Facebook to the Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. Barnes. It was investigated by the Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations.
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.”