DAVENPORT, Iowa — Douglas Speer, 31, of Davenport was sentenced Wednesday, Oct. 20 to 11 years in federal prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, after attempting to entice two underage girls to have sex with him last year.
In November 2020, Speer arranged to purchase sex with who he believed to be 15- and 11-year-old girls, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. After traveling from Iowa to Illinois to meet up with the girls, Speer was arrested by federal agents and local law enforcement.
Speer pleaded guilty in June to two counts of attempted enticement of a minor and one count of travel with intent to engage in an illicit sexual activity, according to the release.
The capture of Speer was done in part with Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing trend of child sexual exploitation in the U.S. The project, according to the justice department, utilizes federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute those that exploit children via the Internet.
Project Safe Childhood has been highly effective at apprehending and convicting offenders, according to the department, and many perpetrators have held positions of public trust - from elementary school principal to State Department-affiliated special agent.
Although no children were actually involved in Speer's convicted crimes, child sexual abuse is an epidemic in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 14 girls and one in 13 boys are victims of sexual abuse at some point in their childhood, and 91% of sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone the child or the child's family knows.
To report known incidents of child sexual exploitation, contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children via its 24-hour hotline (1-800-THE-LOST) or its CyberTipline.
