Fairfax County Child Exploitation Sting Ends With 18-Year Prison Sentence

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A 50-year-old man was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after prosecutors said he solicited sexually explicit images from someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl and traveled to a Fairfax County park to meet her for sex.

Mario Alexander Bonilla Canales, a Salvadoran national, was convicted of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, attempted sexual exploitation of a child, and illegally re-entering the United States after previously being removed following a felony conviction.

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In June 2025, Bonilla Canales contacted the supposed 14-year-old through Facebook, according to federal prosecutors. The person was actually an undercover officer with the Fairfax County Police Department's Child Exploitation Unit.

After the undercover officer told Bonilla Canales she was 14, prosecutors said he repeatedly asked for sexually explicit images and sought to arrange a meeting for sex over the next three days.

Bonilla Canales eventually traveled to a Fairfax County park for the planned meeting, authorities said. When authorities attempted to stop him, he fled, damaged two police vehicles and continued driving despite officers' lights and sirens.

Court records show Bonilla Canales had previously been removed from the United States at least three times under a removal order.

U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. imposed the 18-year sentence. The case was prosecuted in the Eastern District of Virginia as part of the Justice Department's Project Safe Childhood initiative.