Washington man tries to jump border to rape Canadian girl, 12

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included the incorrect last name while describing Johnston's criminal history.

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A northwest Washington man was hoping to rape a Canadian girl when he was nabbed in a hay field 60 yards from the border.

Now, Christopher Johnston is headed to federal prison for sex tourism-related charges.

Johnston, 40, was caught in a Homeland Security Investigations sting operation that saw him proposition an undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old girl. He was sentenced Friday to 6 1/2 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle.

“What concerns me is that your drug addiction puts you in a position to think this is o.k.,” Jones told Johnston at the sentencing hearing, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office statement. “Had this child been a real person … the damage would have been life-long and serious.”

In May, the undercover agent responded to an online advertisement Johnston had posted on Craigslist. A weeks-long exchange of sexually explicit messages followed, during which Johnston asked for nude photos of the non-existent girl.

Johnston left his Ferndale home on May 20 expecting to meet the girl after illegally crossing the U.S.-Canada border east of Blaine. Federal agents watching Johnston arrested him just before he was to cross over.

At the time, Johnston was already facing several felony charges in Washington state court. He was initially charged federally with a crime that carried a mandatory 10-year prison term, but later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

Federal prosecutors have asked that Johnston be sentenced to 6½ years in prison, as well as a 20-year term of court supervision.

“But for the fact that he was talking with an undercover agent, Johnston would have had sex with a 12-year-old girl,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Hampton said in court papers.

“Even where there is careful oversight by parents, children are vulnerable to those seeking to use the ubiquity of social media and the internet to victimize and exploit them,” the prosecutor continued. “These same tools also provide predators ample opportunity to meet, share strategies, and validate their darkest desires.”

According to an investigator’s statement, Johnston had advertised himself on Craigslist as an “early 40s good-looking guy” who was “looking for a young lady to spoil.” An investigator posing as a girl living in Abbotsford, British Columbia, then contacted him.

Told the girl was 12, Johnston was undeterred.

“That’s OK sweetie,” he wrote in their exchange. “I could totally spoil you. … I bet you(‘re) super cute too, huh.”

The exchange grew increasingly graphic as Johnston asked the agent to “be naughty for daddy.” Johnston asked for nude photos of the girl before agreeing to meet at an Abbotsford hotel.

Agents followed Johnston north as he traveled to a Whatcom County casino before bicycling through a subdivision and into a Sumas hay field. He was arrested 60 feet from a barbwire fence marking the border.

Johnston has been jailed since his arrest. He pleaded guilty in October to attempted travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Hampton said that a psychological evaluation appears to show that Johnston has not succeeded in an attempt to sexually abuse anyone. Johnston's criminal history includes crimes of violence tied to his substance abuse problems.

Sentencing Johnston, Jones imposed a 10-year period of court supervision as well as the prison term. Johnston remains jailed.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.