Michigan Registered Sex Offender Sentenced To 10 Years For Using The Internet To Attempt To Entice A Child To Engage In Sexual Activity

Jacksonville, Florida - Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan today sentenced Arthur Jay Traxler, Jr. (55, Monroe, Michigan) to 10 years in federal prison for attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. Traxler has been detained since his arrest in November 2020. Traxler was already a registered sex offender, having been convicted of criminal sexual conduct (4^th degree) in 2016, and was on probation at the time that he committed this federal offense.

Traxler had pleaded guilty on March 4, 2021.

According to the plea agreement, between July 21 and August 4, 2020, Traxler engaged in a series of conversations over the internet with a person whom he believed to be a 14-year-old child. Unbeknownst to Traxler, this 'child' was an undercover FBI agent. During the course of the online conversations, Traxler discussed in detail his desire to have the 'child' send him images of the 'child' engaging in sexually explicit conduct. FBI agents arrested Traxler in Michigan on November 9, 2020, and he admitted that he had been chatting online with the 'child.'

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ashley Washington.

This is another case 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. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.