Tampa, FL - United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Staff Sergeant Thomas Allen Vaughn (33, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida) has been arrested and charged by criminal complaint for enticement of a minor for sex.
According to the complaint, between Oct. 23, 2015, and Oct. 28, 2105, Vaughn communicated by email and text message with and individual he believed was a 14-year-old female “child," but who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. During the communications, Vaughn solicited “naughty" pictures from the “child," informed the “child" that his hobbies included kissing, foreplay, oral, teasing, and sex, and told the child about his genitalia. Subsequently, Vaughn made plans to meet the “child" at an agreed upon location, where he was arrested.
A criminal complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Amanda C. Kaiser.
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. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
