LOS ANGELES – A man from the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles was sentenced today to 292 months in federal prison for producing child pornography of him raping a then 15-year-old girl he had kidnapped from her home in Oregon.
Travis Smith, 28, was sentenced by United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt, who said at today’s hearing that Smith’s “inexcusable” conduct was “beyond comprehension” that it had a “profound effect” on the victim. Smith pleaded guilty on January 20 to one count of production of child pornography.
In early 2020, Smith – then a 26-year-old married father of two living with his estranged wife – impersonated a 16-year-old boy to chat online with the victim about a popular online game. Their messages soon turned sexual and abusive, however, with Smith demanding the victim perform painful sex acts on herself as punishment for behavior such as speaking with boys or not answering him quickly enough.
The victim tried to end her communication with Smith, but he threatened to release to her family and friends the sexually explicit images he had enticed her to produce. In July 2020, several months after he initially contacted the victim, Smith drove from California to Oregon to the victim’s home.
Under threat of shooting the victim and her family, Smith kidnapped the victim. He attempted to hide the victim’s whereabouts by having her destroy her cellphone. On the drive and thereafter, Smith repeatedly raped the victim. Once in Los Angeles, he hid the victim in his Westlake apartment for several days. While there, he filmed himself raping her. After days of captivity, the FBI located and rescued the victim.
The FBI investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Catharine A. Richmond of the Violent and Organized Crime Section prosecuted this case.