Traveling For Sex With Prince William County Minor Leads To Prison Sentence

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — A man who solicited sex from a minor in Prince William County will spend time behind bars.

Elisha Jason Albert, 25, of Garland, Texas, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison in relation to a sex crime involving a 15-year-old in Prince William County.

According to prosecutors, Albert began talking through Snapchat with the minor victim on Aug. 25, 2023. Alert started the communications by requesting pornographic images of the victim and proposed to meet for sex in Virginia.

Prosecutors claim Alert falsely said he was 25 and that the victim said she was 15. Even after learning her age, he continued to solicit pornographic images and sought to meet for sex.

The victim's guardian submitted an online tip to the FBI on Sept. 22, 2023. The FBI continued communications with Albert over Snapchat and text messages using the victim's phone. Prosecutors say Albert requested to meet at a grocery store in Haymarket on Sept. 25, 2023, and he drove five and a half hours from Long Island, New York. Authorities arrested him in the grocery store parking lot.

When Albert was arrested, authorities found his phone contained a folder labeled "good videos" with 64 sexually explicit videos of children between ages 4 to 6. He had other IMessage conversations with minors between ages 15 and 16 with child sexual abuse material and proof of enticing and coercing the minors.

In February, Albert pleaded guilty in federal court to production of child pornography, attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and transportation of child pornography. The investigation was part of the U.S. Department of Justice Project Safe Childhood to investigate child sexual exploitation and abuse.