A British man who sexually exploited two young Oregon girls through the social media app Snapchat and traveled to the United States with the intent of having sex with one was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in federal prison.
Liam Stuart Butler had been out of custody and on pretrial supervision at the time of the crimes after a July 2022 arrest in London on allegations of online enticement of a minor and possession of child pornography. He was released from custody after his arrest in England, with the conditions that he have no contact with anyone under the age of 16.
Butler first communicated with the Oregon girls online when they were 10 and 14, according to a federal affidavit. He communicated with the teenager from January 2020 through June 1, 2021, and with the younger victim from December 2021 through spring 2023, convincing both to share sexually explicit images and videos with him, according to a federal affidavit and his plea agreement.
Now 30, Butler had been a private in the British Army reserves from the ages of 21 to 27, according to federal prosecutor Mira Chernick.
British authorities had alerted Oregon State Police in November 2022 to the Oregon allegations but did not get a response, wrote Clinton Lindsly, a Homeland Security Investigations agent, in the affidavit.
Lindsly pursued the investigation when he was informed by a Homeland Security Investigations counterpart in London in March 2023, once Butler was reported missing there. British investigators found Butler had left a note saying he was flying to the United States and planned to kill himself so nobody could find him, the affidavit said.
He was reported missing from the coastal town of Weymouth in southern England, last in contact with his family on March 26, 2023.
Lindsly found Butler had flown into New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport a day later. The agent also identified the two Oregon girls and interviewed one who told him that she knew Butler was traveling to the United States and was planning to meet her at a park in Canby during the week of April 5, 2023.
The agent assumed the girl’s identity on her Snapchat channel and learned Butler was on a train to Arizona, according to the affidavit.
Federal agents arrested Butler on April 1, 2023, in Colorado.
In February, Butler pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child in federal court in Portland.
Butler is “incredibly ashamed of his conduct and all of the pain and trauma he has caused his victims,” said Megha Desai, his assistant federal public defender. He chose to plead to the crimes and avoid a trial so he wouldn’t cause additional trauma to the girls, Desai said.
Once he completes his sentence, he plans to return to his home in England, she said.
At Desai’s request, U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson agreed to recommend that Butler serve his prison term at a federal prison in Seagoville, Texas, where he can obtain treatment.
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