ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A man with citizenship in Lebanon and the United States was arrested this morning after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on charges of transporting visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

According to court documents, George Aref Nader, 60, was charged by criminal complaint after he arrived at Washington-Dulles International Airport on Jan. 17, 2018 from Dubai in possession of a cell phone containing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The charges were unsealed after his arrest this morning.

Nader previously pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to the same charge in 1991.

If convicted, Nader faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 40 years. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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 www.justice.gov/psc.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and John P. Selleck, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jay V. Prabhu and Laura Fong are prosecuting the case.

This case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, composed of FBI agents and local, state and federal partners.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:18-mj-196.

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.