Skip to main content
May 20, 2016Seattle, United StatesChild Exploitation

Washington state man arrested for attempted enticement of a minor

Sought sexual encounter with someone he believed was a 12-year-old girl

SEATTLE – A northern Washington state man was arrested by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Friday as he approached the U.S./Canada border to travel to British Columbia to have sexual contact with a person he believed to be a 12-year-old girl he met through an ad on Craigslist.

Christopher David Johnston, 39, was arrested by HSI special agents as he attempted to illegally enter Canada. Johnston made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle Friday where he is charged by complaint with attempted enticement of a minor. He will remain in custody pending a detention hearing next week. Attempted enticement of a minor is punishable by a mandatory minimum 10 years to life in prison. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Hampton, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.

According to the criminal complaint, in early May Johnston began communicating with a person who responded to a personal ad he had placed on Craigslist. The ad said Johnston was seeking a “young lady to spoil.” An HSI undercover agent replied to the ad, indicating that she was not yet 13. Despite knowing that, Johnston engaged in increasingly sexualized emails, texts and chats with the special agent, ultimately arranging to meet the “child” in Abbotsford, B.C., for sex. Via text message, Johnston told the “girl” that he was planning on crossing the border illegally to meet her in Canada. He was arrested in the U.S. near Sumas as he rode his bicycle toward the border.

This case is a product of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators.

Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 12,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

Updated: