Stanislaus man pleads guilty to transporting minor across state lines, faces life in prison
The Modesto Bee will not publish the names of the minor related to this story. However, archival coverage has not been altered.
A Turlock man pleaded guilty in federal court earlier this week to transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sex acts, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
In September 2023, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office issued a “Be on the Lookout” message for a 16-year-old girl. The girl left her home with Cristian Ceja, 27, in late August. The pair were discovered months later in a motor home with no running water or heat in rural Idaho after the girl said she wanted to come home.
The relationship between the two started after Ceja, a delivery driver, delivered items to the girl’s home and then used her phone number to find her on social media.
Using the platform, Ceja began a “lengthy sexual relationship” with the girl, sneaking into her bedroom to have sex with her without the detection of her parents.
“On at least two occasions, Ceja video-recorded himself engaging in sexual contact with the minor victim,” read a DOJ press release. “Ceja kept used condoms and used feminine hygiene products in (his) storage unit as souvenirs of his relationship with the minor victim.”
The girl’s mother contacted law enforcement on Aug. 24, 2023. She told authorities that she found “provocative photographs” in her daughter’s bedroom and became concerned that she was having a relationship with an adult.
The next day, in the early morning hours, Ceja took the girl and fled. While on the run, Ceja tried to evade detection by placing stolen license plates on his vehicle, destroying the VIN number from its dashboard and spray-painting its body a different color. Ceja also used an alias, discarded his cell phone and used a burner phone while in flight.
Ceja took the girl to Nevada first, where they lived in his vehicle for about a week. After that, he took her to rural Idaho. They lived there in a camper with no running water or heat for several winter months. Temperatures drop well below freezing during winter months in Idaho.
During this time, the girl contacted her family and said she wanted to come home. However, she couldn’t do it on her own, she said.
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office was able to ping her phone and find her and Ceja’s location in Kamiah, Idaho.
On Jan. 3 of this year, deputies with the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the camper, rescued the girl and arrested Ceja.
Ceja faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in federal prison, along with a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of of the court after “consideration of any applicable statutory factors” and “federal sentencing guidelines, which take into account a number of variables,” read the DOJ’s press statement.
