Hawaii man sentenced to 41 years for child sexual abuse

A 29-year-old Hawaiian man sentenced in U.S. District Court in Oregon to 41 years in federal prison for child sexual abuse committed his crimes in Lane County, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

“[T]he crimes took place in the Eugene-Springfield area of Lane County,” Andie Rocksund, acting public affairs officer for the Oregon district, said in an email.

Benjamin Victor Houghton pleaded guilty to one count of using a minor to produce a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct and one count of aggravated sexual abuse.

In a statement announcing the conviction, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Houghton taught piano lessons online from his home in Hawaii and persuaded children to perform sexual acts, which he recorded.

The FBI received information in late 2022 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a video depicting child sexual abuse, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. An agent with Homeland Security Investigations helped link a different video to Houghton, prosecutors said.

Houghton signed a plea agreement stating that he engaged in virtual sexual abuse of two minor victims and also recorded them. Houghton also admitted to traveling to Oregon twice and abusing the victims, recording the abuse of one of the minor victims.

In addition to the prison term, Houghton was sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release.

The “lengthy sentence illustrates the heinous nature of Houghton’s conduct and sends a strong message to child predators that they will be held accountable,” Nathan Lichvarcik, chief of the Eugene and Medford branches of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon, said in a statement.

Under sentencing guidelines, Houghton is not entitled to parole. He may earn credit for good behavior that could reduce his sentence at a rate of up to 54 days for each year he’s in prison, according to court documents.