A Nevada man was sentenced Tuesday to 6 1/2 years in a federal prison for traveling to Southwestern Pennsylvania in 2019 in an attempt to have sex with a 15-year-old West Mifflin girl.
Renad Bautista, 32, of North Las Vegas, was ordered to spend 10 years on supervised release after the prison term, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty in June to one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
Prosecutors said Bautista traveled from Las Vegas to the Pittsburgh area in December 2019 to meet with the girl after stalking her online for more than a year. He was accused of contacting the girl through Instagram since August 2018 when she was 13, adding that he found her address through social media and wanted to drive to Pittsburgh to meet her, according to court papers.
Prosecutors said he repeatedly created new accounts after being blocked by the girl and ignored pleas from her family to stop. Bautista was arrested by undercover officers who used her accounts to pose as the teen girl.
Defense attorneys said Bautista has mental health issues that result in drug and alcohol abuse and paranoia, according to a sentencing memorandum. A letter to the court from his sister details an abusive and dysfunctional childhood.
The sentence was agreed upon by both parties through a plea bargain, prosecutors said in a memorandum.
“Here, Mr. Bautista has demonstrated that he is a sexual predator who will go to great lengths to exploit a minor — continually changing his name and establishing at least 39 different accounts/usernames to send graphic sexual messages to the minor (after being blocked and told to stop) and traveling across the country to meet with the minor for a sexual purpose,” prosecutors said.
There is about 2,200 miles between North Las Vegas and West Mifflin.
