Manitoba man who sexually assaulted 13-year-old Indiana girl sentenced to 46 years in U.S. prison

A Manitoba man who drove more than 1,500 kilometres to Indiana to sexually assault a 13-year-old girl he met on the internet has been sentenced to 46 years in a United States prison.

Mahdi Hosseini, 22, was given the hefty prison term— a length virtually unheard of in the Canadian justice system — on Monday in a Hendricks County, Ind. courtroom, after he pleaded guilty to child molesting, promotion of sexual trafficking of a child and possession of child sex abuse material.

“This defendant deliberately sought out a child, gained her trust, deceived her family and crossed international borders to exploit her,” Hendricks County prosecutor Loren Delp said in a statement earlier this week.

“The guilty plea… ensures accountability and spares the victim from having to relive this trauma at trial. Our office will continue to aggressively prosecute those who prey on children and use technology to facilitate these crimes.”

Hosseini was arrested by police in Avon, an Indianapolis suburb, on Aug. 30 last year. He travelled to the state two days earlier, after grooming the girl for several months on online messaging platform Discord.

He initially met the girl online in April last year and the two exchanged sexual messages and photos, before eventually agreeing to meet in person.

The girl’s mother knew she had been messaging with a person she thought was a “boy” from Canada. She had some reservations, but allowed her daughter to continue, given the distance, said court documents filed in September.

The 13-year-old’s mother called police to a church in Whitestown, a community about 30 kilometres northeast of Indianapolis, where Hosseini was attending services with the victim and her mother, after she discovered what was going on.

The girl’s mother had reported to police that her daughter met up with Hosseini, who had been pretending to be the father of one of the girl’s friends.

The victim’s mother discovered his ruse after she saw that Hosseini was driving a car with Manitoba plates and recalled that her daughter had been messaging a Canadian months before.

The girl told her mother she loved the 22-year-old and admitted she’d been to his hotel, but said they had just “cuddled” and watched movies together.

She later told police they had “sex” several times at Hosseini’s hotel.

Police examined Hosseini’s digital communications with the girl, physical evidence at his hotel room and took statements from the victim.

They found lewd photos and sexually explicit messages, as well as messages about their plan to lie to the girl’s mother.

It’s not clear where Hosseini lived in Manitoba. He has no prior convictions in the province, records show.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca