Texas Man Sentenced to 17 Years for Sex with Minor

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Texas man was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison after he was caught traveling to Virginia to have sex with a minor.

Elisha Jason Albert, 25, of Garland, Texas, began communicating with a 15-year-old victim through Snapchat in August 2023. Albert solicited pornographic material from the victim and paid the victim to send him explicit images. Despite knowing the victim’s age, Albert continued to solicit explicit images and proposed meeting the victim in Virginia for sex.

After the victim’s guardian submitted an online tip to the FBI, the agency took custody of the victim’s phone and continued to communicate with Albert over Snapchat and text messages. Albert proposed meeting the victim on Sept. 25, 2023, and arranged to meet at a grocery store in Haymarket. He was arrested upon his arrival in the parking lot.

At the time of his arrest, Albert had with him his phone, which contained a folder titled ‘good videos’ that stored sixty-four videos of children as young as four to six years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Albert’s phone had iMessage communications with other minors between fifteen and sixteen years old, which included additional production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and incidents of coercion and enticement.

Albert had a history of similar crimes, including engaging with a victim in Texas knowing that she was only 15 years old. Albert drove to the victim’s home and had sex with her on multiple occasions. Albert made a video recording of one of his sexual encounters with the victim, which was still on his phone at the time of his arrest.

Albert pled guilty to production of child pornography, attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and transportation of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff handed down the 17-year and six-month sentence.

The 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. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura D. Withers and Zoe Bedell prosecuted the case, while the Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force investigated.

The Department of Justice urges parents and guardians to be aware of the risks of online predators and to educate children on how to stay safe online. The public can report suspected cases of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org.