DOJ: Marine Corporal pleads guilty to attempting to entice 13-year-old over the internet
United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that David Wayne Hogle, Jr. (29, Cherry Point, North Carolina) has pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a 13-year-old child to produce sexually explicit photos of herself and send them to him over the internet.
Hogle faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison and a lifetime term of supervised release.
Hogle was arrested at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point in North Carolina and was transported to Jacksonville for prosecution. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
According to court documents, on July 13, 2022, an FBI agent in Jacksonville began an undercover investigation to identify individuals using the internet to engage in sexual activity with children. This FBI agent (UC) posted a message in a chat room on a particular social media application (“app”) posing as the “mother” of a 13-year-old child.
App user “Kaligula,” who was later identified as Hogle, responded, “Interested in domination, degrading, breeding, incest, and very young girls.”
When asked about his age preference for children, Hogle responded, “No lower age limit.”
The UC explained that her daughter was 13 years old, and Hogle replied, “Typically [I] like younger …”
The UC confirmed that she and the “child” were located in Florida, and Hogle replied that he lived in North Carolina. After exchanging phone numbers, Hogle texted the UC, “So when do I get to see … your daughter?”
He stated that he had previously had sex with a 13-year-old and a 2-year-old. Hogle sent the UC a hyperlink to a cloud storage account that contained 28 photos of infants and toddlers being sexually abused.
On July 15, 2022, Hogle texted the UC, who was portraying the “child,” stating “I understand you’re only 13, so there are going to be a lot of things you still need to learn. I [am] happy to teach you about them.”
Hogle then requested the “child” take a “naughty pic” or a video of her genitalia for him and directed her as to how to do so using her smartphone.
The next day, Hogle texted the UC, asked again for an explicit photo of the “child,” and provided step-by-step instructions as to how to take a picture of the “child’s” genitalia. To demonstrate what kind of picture he wanted the “child” to take, Hogle sent the “child” a photo of his own genitalia.
The FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) confirmed that Hogle was a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps stationed at MCAS Cherry Point in North Carolina. Further investigation revealed that Hogle was accessing the internet during his online conversations with the UC while onboard MCAS Cherry Point.
On July 29, 2022, Hogle was arrested by the FBI onboard MCAS Cherry Point.
During an interview with law enforcement, Hogle admitted that he had sent the UC a hyperlink containing child sexual abuse materials to show to the 13-year-old “child,” that he directed the “child” to take a picture of her “privates,” and that he was sexually interested in children aged “double digits, ten, twelve and plus.”
A search of Hogle’s computer revealed that it contained 162 images and 45 videos depicting infants, toddlers, and young children being sexually abused.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville, Florida and Greenville, North Carolina, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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