A North Carolina man was sentenced today to 420 months, or 35 years, in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for enticing and sexually abusing a minor.
Emilio Moran, 39, of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty on Aug. 17, 2020, to sexual abuse of a minor and enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity. According to information presented at the sentencing proceeding, Moran enticed a minor to engage in a prolonged sexual relationship while he was accompanying the armed forces in Okinawa, Japan. Moran, a former U.S. Marine, used text messages and gifts to entice the minor into the illicit sexual relationship, and he took cellphone videos of some of the sexual abuse. Moran also encouraged the minor to destroy evidence in the case. The sexual relationship ended when it was reported to investigators with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney G. Norman Acker III made the announcement.
The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Charles Schmitz of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parris of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.