Makel Elboghdady, Sex Offense Against Minor, West Virginia 2021

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A federal jury in West Virginia has convicted an Ohio man of traveling in interstate commerce to engage in illicit sexual activity with a minor.

Makel Elboghdady, 36, of Columbus, Ohio, was charged by a single-count Indictment in May 2020.

Evidence at trial revealed that Elboghdady traveled on February 28, 2020 from Columbus, Ohio to Huntington to meet a woman in order to engage in sexual activity with her purported minor daughters. Elboghdady believed the girls were 11 and 13 years old.

When he arrived in Huntington and met with the person he believed to be the mother of the girls, Elboghdady was placed under arrest.

Elboghdady faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced on August 16, 2021. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

‘Thanks to a proactive investigation in this case by the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and our commitment to combatting child sexual exploitation, Elboghdady was charged and convicted of traveling in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in illicit sexual activity with a minor. This case should serve as a warning to offenders that the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will work together to hold you accountable and bring you to justice,’ said Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston.

The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

Sex Crimes

Tyler Robert Curtis, Child Pornography, Alabama 2025

Mar 2, 2026

Sex Crimes

Alexander John Duran, Child Sex Abuse, New Mexico 2022

Apr 16, 2026

Sex Crimes

Richard Castle, Coercion of a Minor, Ohio 2011

Apr 16, 2013

Sex Crimes

John Bevel, Advertising Visual Depictions of Minors in Sexually Explicit Conduct, New Mexico 2024

Feb 26, 2018