North Bethesda Man Gets Prison For Sending Explicit Photos To 14-Year-Old Girl

NORTH BETHESDA, MD — A Maryland man who sent explicit photos of himself to a 14-year-old girl from Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday for coercion and enticement of a minor, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Jonathan Willis, 37, of North Bethesda, pleaded guilty on March 15 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In addition to the prison term, the federal judge sentenced Willis to 10 years of supervised release and ordered him to register as a sex offender for 25 years.

Willis began communicating with the girl in March 2022 using Snapchat, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. He offered to pay the girl money in exchange for sexually explicit photographs, according to prosecutors.

Over a two-week period, Willis sent the girl several photos of his penis and of himself masturbating, the U.S. attorney’s office said. He also repeatedly asked her to come to his home in Maryland to “make love,” prosecutors said.

The girl refused to go to his home and reported Willis’ communications to law enforcement, according to prosecutors.

As part of the investigation, on May 12, 2022, and May 24, 2022, an undercover officer assumed the 14-year-old girl’s identity on Snapchat. On both occasions, the defendant requested sexually explicit photographs of the girl, sent her photos and videos of his penis, and attempted to persuade her to travel to Maryland for sexual activity, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood, an initiative started in 2006.