HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Makel Elboghdady, 37, an Egyptian national living in Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for traveling in interstate commerce to engage in illicit sexual activity with a minor. Elboghdady was also ordered to serve 20 years on supervised release after completing his prison sentence.
Elboghdady was previously convicted after a jury trial in May 2021. Evidence at trial revealed that Elboghdady traveled on February 28, 2020 from Columbus, Ohio to Huntington to meet a woman in order to engage in sexual activity with her purported minor daughters. Elboghdady believed the girls were 11 and 13 years old. When he arrived in Huntington and met with the person he believed to be the mother of the girls, Elboghdady was placed under arrest.
United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.
United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed the sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Rada Herrald and Julie White prosecuted the case.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s 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 those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:20-cr-00069.
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