⏱ 2 min read
A 32-year-old Chesapeake man, Dylan Joseph Knauer, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for traveling to the Philippines to have sex with a 14-year-old minor. Knauer met the victim through an online dating site and began chatting, video calling, and exchanging explicit messages. He traveled to the Philippines in April and May 2025 and engaged in sex with the minor.
Knauer’s actions were discovered when he asked the victim to create a sexually explicit video of herself on October 22, 2025. The next day, law enforcement learned of his plans to travel to the Philippines again and removed him from a flight from Denver to Japan.
The FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, along with Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Air Marshals Service, Customs and Border Protection, and the Denver Police Department, investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen S. Taylor prosecuted Knauer under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Project Safe Childhood, launched in 2006, aims to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet and identify and rescue victims. Knauer’s case is a significant example of the initiative’s efforts to protect children from sexual predators.
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📋 Key Facts
- Crime: Sex Crimes
- Defendant: Virginia
- Location: VA
- Source: DOJ Press Release
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