Nathaniel Lamar Nelson Scott, a 36-year-old resident of Bowie, Maryland, has been sentenced to 96 months in federal prison. The sentencing took place today in the U.S. District Court and is linked to Scott's actions involving travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr., alongside FBI Special Agent Sean Ryan from the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Scott entered a guilty plea on October 16, 2024, for one count related to his intent to engage in illegal sexual activity. In addition to his prison sentence, Judge Dabney L. Friedrich mandated that Scott serve a lifetime term of supervised release and register as a sex offender.
Evidence presented by the government revealed that in May 2024, Scott began communicating through an encrypted messaging app with someone he believed was a pedophile abusing his six-year-old daughter. Unbeknownst to Scott, this individual was actually an undercover officer part of the MPD–FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. Following several explicit conversations about abusing the supposed child, Scott arranged a meeting on June 5, 2024, intending to commit sexual acts with her. He traveled from Maryland to meet at a pre-determined location in D.C., where he was apprehended.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative started by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse nationwide. This project unites federal, state, and local resources for locating offenders exploiting children online while also identifying victims for rescue efforts.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI Washington Field Office along with MPD’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force—a group consisting of FBI agents as well as other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and D.C.—tasked with investigating child exploitation cases.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jocelyn Bond and Paul V. Courtney are prosecuting this case.