Truck driver sentenced to 25 years for ‘transporting a minor in interstate commerce’ for sex

A Tennessee truck driver was sentenced to more than two decades in prison after he was found guilty on charges related to sexually assaulting minors.

On November 30, 28 year old Jason Leonard Valdivia was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville. He was found guilty of transporting a minor in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in criminal sexual activity with the minor, according to a DOJ news release.

Federal authorities began investigating Valdivia in 2018 when a minor reported that she had been assaulted during round trip from Tennessee to Nevada.

“When confronted, Valdivia admitted that he had engaged in sexual acts with two minors during the trip.  Subsequent investigation revealed that Valdivia sexually assaulted the minors in his truck in June 2018 during a trip from Tennessee to Nevada and back,” the DOJ says.

The case was investigated with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

After Valdivia is released, he has been sentenced to serve an additional 15 years and to register as a sex offender in any state where he lives or works.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about PSC, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.