An Ohio man pleaded guilty to federal charges of child sexual abuse after investigators say they found evidence he abused children in Ohio and Utah, according to a news release issued Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Wade S. Christofferson, 73, admitted to coercing and enticing two minors under the age of 10 through sexually explicit FaceTime calls, coded letters, and hands-on sexual abuse approximately 20 times.
The offense carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison.
Christofferson was booked in the Salt Lake County Jail on an interstate hold by an FBI agent last November. Chistofferson, who lives in Dublin, Ohio, was later extradited to the Southern District of Ohio.
In November, Christofferson was overheard having a sexually explicit FaceTime call with the Utah victim. For the previous six months, Christofferson had sent coded letters to the victim’s Utah home.
The letters taught the victim to use code words to describe body parts which were then exposed during FaceTime calls. Christofferson labeled the hand-written messages “Top Secret” so the victim would not share them.
A few weeks after the FaceTime call was overheard, the Dublin Police Department received a separate allegation of sexual abuse of an Ohio minor, the news release said.
After Dublin police seized Wade Christofferson’s electronics, the FBI found his phone search history included “criminal defense attorneys sex crimes columbus ohio” and “In Ohio do clergy have to report child abuse confessions.”
When Dublin police executed a search warrant at Wade Christofferson’s Ohio residence, they found a child-size door with “H POTTER” written on it that led to a “modified attic crawl space” with a mattress, pillows and blankets.
Christofferson is a younger brother of President D. Todd Christofferson, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, working with the FBI Salt Lake City Division, the Payson Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.
The case is part of Project Safe Childhood, according to the news release. The nationwide initiative was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice “to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.”