An Arizona man, aged 73, received a four-year prison sentence for attempting to engage in a sexual act with a minor, after traveling from Tucson to Washington state. Steven J. Migdon, arrested last year following an investigation by the Seattle Police and the FBI, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle, as reported by the Department of Justice.
Believing to be in communication with a 13-year-old boy, who was in fact an undercover agent, Migdon made his messages increasingly sexually explicit. He even went as far as sending images of his face and genitalia. On August 5th, he was under the impression he would meet the "teen" at an Everett hotel room, only to find law enforcement officers waiting for his arrival.
U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead, acknowledging Migdon's previously crime-free life, commented at the hearing, "Today we are here to confront the ugliness of what you did over ten days. The images you had on your phone represented real children and real abuse. These are among the most serious crimes we see in federal court, the crimes that exploit children." During the search of Migdon's phone, authorities discovered he had been sending explicit images to other children and also found child sexual abuse material.
Assistant United States Attorney Cecelia Gregson pushed for a stringent punishment, stating in court documents, "Despite age and experience, Migdon spent ten days communicating with a person he believed to be a 13-year-old boy." Worse, his phone contents confirmed he had previously engaged in inappropriate communications with unidentified minors leading up to the incident in question. Further to his prison term, Migdon was ordered to pay $3,000 restitution to a victims' fund and will be subject to ten years of supervised release once out of prison. He is also required to register as a sex offender.
The federal initiative Project Safe Childhood has brought attention to cases like Migdon's as part of their broader effort to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Since its launch in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, it has aimed to pool resources at the federal, state, and local levels to locate and prosecute individuals exploiting children through the internet and to help in the rescue of victims. For more about Project Safe Childhood, interested readers can visit their official website.
