LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A man from the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles was sentenced today to 292 months in federal prison for producing child pornography of him raping a 15-year-old girl he kidnapped from her Oregon home.
Travis Smith, 28, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt, who said Smith's ``inexcusable'' conduct had a ``profound effect'' on the victim. Smith pleaded guilty in January to one federal count of production of child pornography.
In early 2020, Smith -- then a 26-year-old married father of two living with his estranged wife -- impersonated a 16-year-old boy to chat online with the victim about a popular online game. Their messages soon turned sexual and abusive, however, with Smith demanding the victim perform painful sex acts on herself as punishment for behavior such as speaking with boys or not answering him quickly enough.
The victim tried to end her communication with Smith, but he threatened to release to her family and friends the sexually explicit images he had enticed her to produce. In July 2020, several months after he initially contacted the victim, Smith drove from California to the victim's home in Oregon.
Under threat of shooting the victim and her family, Smith kidnapped the victim. He attempted to hide her whereabouts by having her destroy her cell phone. On the drive and thereafter, Smith repeatedly raped the victim. Once in Los Angeles, he hid her in his Westlake apartment for several days. While there, he filmed himself raping her. After days of captivity, the FBI located and rescued the girl.
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