Orange County man who traveled to Canada to have sex with girl he met online sentenced to more than 7 years in federal prison

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A Garden Grove man who convinced a 13-year-old girl he met online to send him explicit videos – and then traveled to Canada to have sex with the victim – was ordered Monday to serve 87 months in federal prison.

Paul Binh Do, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter on charges stemming from a probe by the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Once he completes the prison term, Do will be on supervised release for the rest of his life. Do pleaded guilty in May 2016 to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of receipt of child pornography.

According to court documents, Do began an online relationship with the then-13-year-old girl in September 2013, and soon thereafter they began exchanging videos of themselves engaging in sexual conduct.

In May 2014, Do traveled to Canada from Orange County to celebrate the victim’s 14th birthday and have sex with her, but he was stopped by Canadian law enforcement as he attempted to enter the country. When he was stopped by Canadian authorities, Do possessed digital devices that contained naked videos of the victim. Following his arrest in Canada, Do obstructed justice when he contacted the victim and asked her to tell law enforcement that she had lied to Do about her age when, in fact, she had been completely truthful about being 13.

In a sentencing memorandum filed with the court, prosecutors noted that evidence gathered from Do’s digital devices “showed that defendant was having conversations of a sexual nature with five other individuals who had indicated that they were minor girls.”

In August 2016, after he pleaded guilty, Do’s bond was revoked and he was remanded into custody after he visited eight different Orange County parks on 12 different occasions in violation of the terms of his release. At the time, Do claimed that he was playing Pokemon Go when he went to the parks in July 2016.

The Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force received substantial assistance with the investigation from HSI’s attaché office in Vancouver, the Calgary Police Service, Canada Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Southern Alberta Internet Child Exploitation Unit. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vib Mittal of the Santa Ana Branch Office.