Ocean County Man Admits to Traveling to a Foreign Place to Engage in Sexual Conduct with a Minor

TRENTON, N.J. - An Ocean County man admitted to traveling to a foreign place to engage in sexual conduct with a minor, Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney Alina Habba announced.

Jacob Bauer, 29, of Toms River, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch to a one-count Information charging him with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From December 1, 2023 through December 10, 2023, Bauer, then 27 years old, traveled from the United States to Norway to engage in sexual activity with a 14-year-old female. Once in Norway, Bauer, staying at a hotel, engaged in sexual activity with the victim. After returning to the United States, Bauer communicated over social media platforms with the victim and others about his sexual activities with the victim. During those conversations, Bauer acknowledged the victim's age and status as a minor. After members of an online community that Bauer was active in learned of his sexual activities with a minor, Bauer was "doxxed" (his public information published online) by members of that community.

The charge of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place carries a potential maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for January 21, 2026.

Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney Habba credited the special agents and task force officers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy in Newark, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea. She also thanked the New Brunswick Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Vincent Sabo, the Manchester Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Antonio Ellis, the FBI Legal Attaché Office, U.S. Embassy, Copenhagen, Denmark, the FBI Legal Attaché Office, U.S. Embassy, Warsaw, Poland, the Jackson County, Georgia Sheriff's Office, INTERPOL, the Norwegian Politiet, Troms District, the Norwegian Politiet, NC3 KRIPOS, and the Poland Policja CBZC, Central Cybercrime Bureau for their assistance in the investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.

The government is represented by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan S. Garelick of the U.S. Attorney's Office's Criminal Division in Trenton.

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Defense counsel: Andrea Aldana, Esq., Federal Public Defenders.