According to the plea agreement, Mr. Woodland admitted that between March 1998 and approximately April 19, 1998, he traveled from Kansas to California with the intent, and for the purpose, of having sexual contact with a juvenile female whom he had met in a chatroom on the Internet.  Woodland had met the victim on the Internet in March 1998.  During a telephone conversation, he learned the victim was a minor.  Woodland suggested to her that they continue to talk on the telephone, and spoke daily with the victim.  In addition, he communicated with the victim regularly via e-mail.  The conversations and electronic communications were occasionally sexually explicit. 

During April 1998, Woodland told the victim that he planned to take a few days off from work to drive out to California and visit her.  Woodland drove out to California from Kansas in April 1998 with the intention of having sexual contact with her.   When he arrived in California, Woodland established contact with the victim and in fact had sexual contact with her before returning to Kansas.

Judge Fogel sentenced the Defendant to 18 months in federal prison, a fine of $3,000, and a three-year term of supervised release, to include counseling.  The Defendant will begin serving the sentence in July 2003.

The parties agreed that, under the Sentencing Guidelines, the Defendant could receive a sentence of between 12 and 18 months imprisonment.  The Court adopted the United States' recommendation that the Defendant receive an eighteen-month sentence.

The prosecution was the result of a two-year investigation by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Gatos Police Department.  Jeff Nedrow is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Susan Kreider.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross W. Nadel at (408) 535-5035 or Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415)436-7181.