Prineville man gets 17 1/2 years for seeking photos, traveling to Bend for sex with ‘teen’ undercover officer
EUGENE, Ore. (KTVZ) — A Prineville man was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison Thursday after he requested sexually explicit photos from an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a child online and traveled from his home to Bend in hopes of having sex with the child, prosecutors said.
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, authorities said.
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, prosecutors said.
On May 7, 2021, Adams traveled from Prineville to Bend in hopes of having sex with the child, prosecutors said. 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.
As local authorities reported last year, Adams was convicted of rape in 2004 and a registered sex offender, prohibited from contacting minors.
At the time of last year's arrest, Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp said detectives believe Adams might have been in contact with other Central Oregon juveniles on social media platforms and asked parents and young people to report any such contact. Vander Kamp said Thursday that no other victims were located.
This case was investigated by the Bend Police Department, CODE Team, 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.
