EUGENE, Ore.—A Prineville, Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison today after he requested sexually explicit photos from an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a child online and travelled from his home to Bend, Oregon in hopes of having sex with the child.
Patrick James Adams, 36, was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison and a life term of supervised release.
According to court documents, on April 25, 2021, Adams sent a Facebook friend request to a person he believed was a 14-year-old girl from Bend. A few days later, Adams initiated contact with the account via Facebook Messenger and began chatting with undercover law enforcement officers. At the outset of and at multiple times during these conversations, the law enforcement officers told Adams he was chatting with a 14-year-old child. Over the next week, Adams requested nude images and videos from the purported child more than a dozen times. Adams also sent several images and an explicit video, which were used to confirm his identity. Throughout the conversation, he repeatedly reminded the fictitious minor not to tell anyone about the exchange.
On May 7, 2021, Adams traveled from Prineville to Bend in hopes of having sex with the child. Upon his arrival, Adams notified the fictitious minor victim that he would wait at a designated meeting area, a local public library, until she finished school. Investigators arrested Adams while he was waiting for the child.
On May 20, 2021, a federal grand jury in Eugene returned a three-count indictment charging Adams with attempting to use a minor to produce a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct, attempting to coerce and entice a minor, and committing a felony offense involving a minor as a registered sex offender.
On July 26, 2022, Adams pleaded guilty to attempting to use a minor to produce a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct.
This case was investigated by the Bend Police Department, Central Oregon Drug Enforcement (CODE) Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Crook County Parole and Probation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. McLaren.
Anyone who has information about the physical or online exploitation of children are encouraged to contact HSI at (866) 347-2423 or submit a tip online at report.cybertip.org.
Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor. It is important to remember child sexual abuse material depicts actual crimes being committed against children. Not only do these images and videos document the victims’ exploitation and abuse, but when shared across the internet, re-victimize and re-traumatize the child victims each time their abuse is viewed. To learn more, please visit the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at www.missingkids.org.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.