March 15, 2007

Las Vegas couple arrested on charges of Internet child enticement following ICE and St. Lucie County undercover investigation

FT. PIERCE, Fla. – A 36-year-old Las Vegas man who sent a one-way electronic plane ticket to whom he thought was a 15-year-old Port St. Lucie girl was arrested Tuesday outside the baggage carousel area at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas following a joint undercover investigation between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.

Wesley Evans was charged with using a computer to persuade, induce, entice and coerce a minor to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prohibited sexual activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422, and conspiracy, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. 

Following Evans’ arrest, ICE special agents and officers of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, executed a search warrant at his residence. His wife, Jennifer Evans, was at the residence at the time of the search. 

During the search of the residence, law enforcement discovered a room set up for the arrival of the 15-year-old girl. The room was decorated as previously described by Evans in Internet communications with the undercover officer.  The search also resulted in the seizure of two computers, miscellaneous electronic media, miscellaneous documents, approximately one to two ounces of marijuana and pornography.  Jennifer Evans admitted knowing about the anticipated arrival of the 15-year-old girl and of her husband’s intent to have sex with the runaway.  She was subsequently arrested and charged.

If convicted, both defendants face minimum mandatory sentences of 5 years and possible maximum penalties of 30 years imprisonment.

These arrests stem from an undercover investigation that commenced in Feb. 2007, when an undercover detective from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, portraying himself as a 15-year-old girl from Port St. Lucie, Florida, participated in an on-line conversation with an individual using the screen name of “LasVegasPicMan,” and calling himself “Wes.”  This individual was later identified through further investigation as Wesley Evans. 

In e-mail conversations, Evans stated that he was a thirty-six-year-old male living in Las Vegas and suggested to the undercover agent, whom he believed to be a minor girl, that she should come to Las Vegas.  During the course of the investigation, Evans told the undercover agent that he was going to send her a ticket to travel to Las Vegas and that he was considering sending her a cell phone so he could keep in contact with her. In subsequent conversations, Evans suggested that the undercover runaway from home and fly to Las Vegas to meet him and have sex with him.  Evans also coached the undercover on what items she should delete from her computer so no one would know she had contact with someone on the Internet.  Lastly, on March 3, 2007, Evans sent the undercover an e-mail, which included a one-way electronic plane ticket for travel from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Las Vegas, Nevada, scheduled for Tuesday, March 13, 2007.

Further investigation identified the screen name and computer used during the chats with the undercover officer as one owned by defendant Evans in Pahrump, Nevada, a town approximately 50 miles west of Las Vegas, Nevada.  In addition, a comparison of Wesley Evan’s Nevada driver’s license photograph to a photograph sent by LasVegasPic Man to the undercover further confirmed Evan’s identity.

"Those who engage in the sexual exploitation of children should no longer expect the anonymity of cyberspace to protect them," said Anthony V. Mangione, acting special agent in charge for the ICE Office of Investigations in Miami. "ICE is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that sexual predators feel the full weight of the law."

“One of my highest priorities as Sheriff of St. Lucie County is to investigate those who want to use the Internet to lure unsuspecting youngsters into sexual encounters,” said Sheriff Ken J. Mascara. “That’s why we vigorously pursued this case once the defendant made contact with our undercover detective.”

U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta stated, “The on-line enticement of children by Internet sexual predators is a clear and present danger to welfare of our children.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to aggressively prosecuting these predators who roam the Internet in search of victims.”  

Mangione commended the investigative efforts of the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, the Fort Pierce Resident in Charge ICE Office and the cooperation and assistance of the Las Vegas ICE and United States Attorney’s Office as well as law enforcement from Las Vegas Metropolitan and Nye County Sheriff’s Office.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Beth Sreenan.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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