A Wyoming man accused of trying to buy sex from 12- and 14-year-old girls has pleaded guilty to one criminal charge after securing a plea agreement.
Adam Paul Custeau, 34, faced one count of attempting to entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity and another count of attempted sex trafficking in a July 19 federal indictment in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming.
He secured a plea agreement Sept. 5, which the U.S. Attorney for Wyoming has not made public.
Then he pleaded guilty to the first count only in a change-of-plea hearing on Tuesday.
The first count — unless the plea agreement dictates otherwise — is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
The second count, which prosecutors appear to have stopped pursuing, carried the same potential sentence.
Actually, They Were Cops
The case stems from June 21, when Custeau started texting a phone number in connection with an online advertisement for juvenile prostitutes who would be in Casper, according to the original affidavit in the case.
But there were no prostitutes. The contact number Custeau was texting belonged to a federal Homeland Security Investigations agent, says the affidavit.
The document says the agent texted with Custeau’s cellphone number as Custeau tried to set up a rendezvous with one or more young girls.
Custeau asked if the girls were in Casper and asked for a “Qv,” the affidavit says. Drew Cotton, Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation special agent and the affidavit’s author, wrote in the document that “Qv” stands for “quick visit.”
“Custeau later explained a quick visit to mean a short duration meet including sexual acts,” wrote Cotton.
The agent told Custeau the girls were 12 and 14 years old, the document relates.
Custeau hesitated.
“Its ok babe not for everyone,” the agent texted back.
Edited Photos, No Such Girls
The affidavit says Custeau asked to see a picture of the girls.
The agent sent back photos of undercover agents, fully clothed, but age-regressed to look like young teenage girls, the affidavit says. The agent also sent the make-believe girls’ names and ages, reminding Custeau that they were 12 and 14, the document says.
“Wow yes,” Custeau reportedly responded when he saw the altered photos.
He asked for nudes and also asked to meet with “either one,” says the affidavit: “Witch (sic) ever one likes (sex acts in various orifices).”
The affidavit says Custeau arranged to pay $50 to meet with one of the girls and another $50 to go “bareback,” which means sex without a condom.
The court document says these negotiations continued through June 22.
But He Was Being Watched
Custeau and the agent arranged to meet at a hotel, the affidavit says.
Other agents watched Custeau go to a convenience store near the hotel and withdraw $100 from an ATM, says the document.
The affidavit says that he said he wanted to choose between the two girls before going to the room and asked if the girls could come out and meet with him.
The agent said they couldn’t, but she could come down to meet him.
“Okay wel how we gonna do feels kinda sketchy to me,” said Custeau, according to the affidavit. “Sorry I really wanna tho.”
‘Those Girls’
He never went into the hotel, the affidavit indicates. Instead, he reportedly texted “have a good night” to the agent, loitered another nine minutes in the parking lot and left.
Down the road, Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers stopped Custeau and arrested him without incident, then took him to the Wyoming DCI Casper office for an interview.
Custeau asked if he was in custody because of the text-message conversation he had about “those girls,” says the affidavit.
Further into the interview he confirmed that his phone number was the one the agent had been texting, that he’d responded to an online advertisement June 21 “that appeared to promote sex with two underage females,” and came to the hotel because of the text negotiations.
To Hide From The Fiancée
Custeau admitted that he went to the nearby gas station to withdraw the $100 cash using his Capital One Savor credit card so that his fiancée would not be able to see the withdrawal, the affidavit says.
Custeau told the agents who interviewed him that he was not planning on having sex with the young girls if he confirmed that they were underage, the affidavit says, but that he was going to notify law enforcement if that were the case.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
