An Arizona man has been sentenced to life in federal prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a teenage girl while transporting her across state lines.
A judge sentenced 27-year-old Martin Gillen of Phoenix, Arizona, who had pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of transportation for criminal sexual activity, one count of transportation of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. The judge added 95 years for other related crimes, to be served concurrently with his life sentence.
Federal prosecutor said in late 2021, Gillen began an online relationship with a girl who was then 17 years of age. He persuaded her to take and send him sexually explicit images and videos which he kept and later used to threaten the victim. Over the course of the online relationship, Gillen repeatedly made violent threats against the victim. In March 2024, Gillen traveled to Illinois to pick up the victim then transported her across state lines, from Illinois to Missouri to Kansas. During this trip, Gillen sexually assaulted her on a number of occasions.
Gillen and the victim were found in Kansas by officers with the Iola Police Department. In his possession, Gillen had a firearm, multiple magazines, and zip ties. Gillen admitted to officers that his cell phone contained child sexual abuse materials. Officers later found hundreds of images and videos of child sexual abuse materials on his cell phone, as well as sexually explicit images of the female from when she was 17 years old. Agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) also found images of Gillen sexually abusing an unrelated 4-year-old child from Utah on the phone.
