St. Thomas man sentenced to 25 years for child exploitation, 5 years for escape

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for production of child pornography, and an additional 60 months and three years of supervised release for escape from custody. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department (USVIPD) conducted the investigation that led to the arrest and prosecution. Both sentences will run concurrently.

On Jan. 21, 2014, HSI special agents arrested Raheem T. Creque, 37, for enticing and coercing a minor to engage in criminal sexual conduct. After his detention hearing Jan. 22, 2014, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller ordered Creque held without bail and remanded him to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. The next day, Creque escaped from the U.S. Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections at the Alexander A. Farrelly criminal justice complex. On Jan. 24, 2014, a federal judge issued an arrest warrant for Creque. He was arrested Feb. 28, 2014, after an aggressive, multi-agency manhunt. He pleaded guilty to three counts of child pornography and one count of escape from custody July 9, 2014.

According to court records, Creque came to the attention of law enforcement when a female minor contacted the USVIPD and complained that Creque had extorted her for sex, threatening to place nude images of her on the Internet. Creque first contacted the minor when she was 15 years old and told her that he had a sexually explicit video of her and that he would post it on Facebook if she did not have sex with him. The female minor begged Creque not to release the video, but he continued to threaten her until she complied with his demands. During his sexual assault of the female minor, Creque took a photo of the minor, which he used to further extort her by threatening to post it on Facebook.

Court records also reveal that searches of Creque’s cell phone and Facebook account revealed multiple nude images of other minor females, the youngest being 12 years old, with some of the minors engaged in sexual contact with Creque. When he made his initial contact with the female minors, Creque pretended to be a teenage boy named “Carlos,” and would send images of “Carlos” to the minor victims.

The investigation is part of HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2013, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form.  Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.  Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.