North Carolina Man Indicted for Producing Child Sex Abuse Material and Transporting a Minor Across State Lines for Unlawful Purposes

Jacksonville, Florida - Joshua Lewis Magraff (37, North Carolina) has been charged by indictment with producing child sex abuse material (CSAM) and transporting a child across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual contact. If convicted of the CSAM offense, Magraff faces a minimum of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison. If convicted of the transportation offense, Magraff faces a minimum of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

According to court documents, on February 2, 2026, a 16-year-old child was reported missing in Gastonia, North Carolina. On March 8, 2026, Magraff was stopped by the Putnam County Sheriff's Office for a traffic violation with the missing child in his vehicle. Magraff told the deputy that the missing child was his "little cousin" and that she was 16 years old. The missing child provided conflicting and inaccurate identification information to the deputy before providing her real name, at which point she was identified as the missing child. Magraff later agreed to answer questions and stated that he had met the child at a hotel in North Carolina approximately one month before and that the child and he were traveling to Florida to play gambling arcade games. Magraff repeatedly insisted that he had not brought the child to his hotel room before admitting that she had stayed in his hotel room for several weeks.

Law enforcement officers obtained search warrants for two cellphones that were seized from Magraff's vehicle. Searches of those phones revealed that Magraff had produced multiple videos of himself performing sex acts on the child.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, and the Gastonia (North Carolina) Police Department. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify, rescue, and seek justice for child victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.