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    • Seattle Man Charged With Transporting Minor For Prostitution or Illegal Sexual Activity

    By on August 8, 2020
    FILE - In this Thursday, April 18, 2019, file photo, a sign for the Department of Justice hangs in the press briefing room at the Justice Department, in Washington. The U.S. Justice Department is conducting an antitrust investigation of four automakers that have signed on with California in a deal to toughen tailpipe emissions standards. In July, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW reached a deal with California to abide by standards that are tougher than those preferred by the Trump administration. The standards are closely linked with fuel economy requirements. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
    Traveled to Portland and returned to Seattle with young teen for sex.

    (Seattle)—A 32-year-old Seattle man was charged August 5, 2020, by criminal complaint, with Transportation of a Minor with Intent to Engage in Prostitution or Criminal Sexual Activity, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.

    GARY STENSLAND, was arrested yesterday and made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

    According to the criminal complaint, in September 2018, STENSLAND traveled to Portland to meet a 13-year-old whom he had contacted via an internet app.

    STENSLAND returned to Seattle with the minor and paid the minor for sex.  STENSLAND then drove the youth back to Portland.  The youth just recently disclosed the abuse.

    On August 5, 2020, the FBI, as part of the Seattle Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, executed a search warrant at STENSLAND’s residence and seized his electronic devices.

    Law enforcement continues to investigate other sexual contact STENSLAND may have had with minors.

    Transportation of a Minor with Intent to Engage in Prostitution or Criminal Sexual Activity is punishable by a mandatory minimum ten years in prison and up to life in prison.

    The charges contained in the complaint are only allegations.

    A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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.

    The case is being investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Internet Crimes against Children Task Force.

    The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Hampton.

    Topic(s):
    Project Safe Childhood
    Component(s):
    USAO – Washington, Western
    Contact:
    Press contact for the U.S. Attorney’s Office is Communications Director Emily Langlie at (206) 553-4110 or Emily.Langlie@usdoj.gov.
    Updated August 6, 2020

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