Former Navy officer pleads guilty to trying to coerce federal agent posing as 13-year-old girl online

A former U.S. Navy officer faces 10 years to life imprisonment after pleading guilty in federal court Wednesday in Central Islip to attempting to lure what he believed was a 13-year-old girl to meet him in Valley Stream for sex, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

The potential victim turned out to be an undercover officer.

According to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the former Navy man, identified as Douglas Engstrom, 36, of Hanover, Maryland, pleaded guilty to attempted interstate coercion and enticement of a minor before U.S. District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury.

Sentencing date information was not immediately available.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said court filings indicated Engstrom "communicated online with an individual he believed to be a 13-year-old girl" and that he "attempted to meet this individual to engage in sexual activity." In those communications, authorities said, Engstrom "admitted" he was "a 36-year-old man in the Navy" and was graphic in the types of sex he wanted to engage in with the girl, including wanting to have sex "while she was unconscious."

Authorities said Engstrom booked a flight and hotel room, then traveled from Maryland to New York on Dec. 16, 2023, before being arrested at the Long Island Rail Road station in Valley Stream.

"At the time of the arrest," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in its statement, "Engstrom was holding a large teddy bear, which the undercover officer had requested that he bring to the 13-year-old girl."

A post-arrest search warrant investigation of Engstrom's electronic devices discovered what the authorities described as "a significant volume of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse." The U.S. Attorney's Office said that, as part of his plea Wednesday, Engstrom "stipulated and admitted that he possessed and received over 600 images and videos of child sexual abuse material."

Authorities ask that anyone with information about sexual exploitation by Engstrom contact the FBI at tips.fbi.gov — or by calling 212-384-1000.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Joseph Nocella Jr. said: "This prosecution demonstrates that we will use every law enforcement tool available to prosecute and punish to the fullest extent of the law predators, like the defendant, who exploit the most vulnerable among us: children."

Engstrom was represented by Federal Defenders, who couldn't be reached for comment.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.