Former Bandon Coach Sentenced, June 28

U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams announced today that former Bandon School District educational assistant and coach Sean Jeffrey Haga, 33, was sentenced to 360 months in federal prison and a life term of supervised release for sexually abusing a 2-month-old infant and distributing photos of the abuse on the internet. “Mere hours passed between FBI agents first discovering the photographic evidence of Sean Haga’s abuse online and their rescue of the infant victim assisted by local law enforcement. Unfortunately, Haga’s victimization of this child did not stop with his arrest. These images will continue to be circulated on the internet forever, a heartbreaking fact this child will one day come to understand,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “We believe the sentence imposed will prevent Haga from abusing other children and hope that it brings some measure of solace and comfort to the victim’s family and community.” “The sexual abuse of this victim—an infant—is reprehensible. Sean Haga’s further exploitation of this baby as he shared that abuse with other pedophiles is unconscionable. I want to thank the FBI agents and local partners at the Bandon Police Department and Coos County Sheriff’s Office who worked around the clock to rescue this child and arrest Haga,” said Renn Cannon, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon. On June 17, 2016, Haga shared photos depicting the sexual abuse of children online with an undercover FBI task force officer using Kik Messenger, an instant messaging mobile application. Haga told the undercover officer that he wanted to travel to have sex with the officer’s minor daughter and that he possessed photos of himself sexually abusing a minor victim. Haga sent multiple pictures depicting this abuse to the undercover officer. The FBI worked through the night to identify the person associated with the Kik account and the location from which it was being used. Based on the information collected, FBI agents from the Medford Resident Agency were able to obtain search and arrests warrants for Haga who was arrested on June 18, 2016 without incident. On April 25, 2018, Haga pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor. This case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Judi Harper and Amy Potter, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon. This case was 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. Anyone who has information about the physical or online exploitation of children are encouraged to call the FBI at (503) 224-4181 or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.