Prison for Minnesotan who went to Alaska motel with candy intending to rape girl, 9

A Minnesotan who left the state to sexually abuse another man's 9-year-old daughter in Alaska has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.

Adam S. Pike, 44, was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage to 22 ½ years in prison, as well as being placed under lifetime supervision upon his release after pleading guilty to intent to have sex with a minor and distribution of child pornography.

Before moving to Alaska, Pike was married and living in Rochester as recently as 2017 and in Minneapolis for several years before that, according to public records.

In that time, he officiated volleyball at the high school, junior college, college and club levels in Minnesota and other states. Some of the athletes were as young as 12. Court records also note that he was a youth soccer coach in Minnesota.

"A sentence of this nature is a long and lengthy sentence that can hopefully deter others," Judge Sharon Gleason said Friday as she handed down Pike's punishment, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Anchorage.

Pike's sentence also includes registration as a sex offender upon his release from prison, undergo sexual disorder treatment and pay $45,000 in restitution to the victims in this case for counseling needs for the victims. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop one count of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

While state records in Minnesota show no convictions for Pike beyond a couple of parking violations, his ex-wife said in federal court ahead of Pike's sentencing that she had domestic abuse charges filed against him in 2014, but she had them dropped out of fear of public embarrassment.

The dissolution of marriage filing makes no mention of his legal troubles in Alaska and points only to irreconcilable differences as the reason for the divorce.

However, in a victim impact statement, the woman spelled out their many difficulties while Pike was her husband and stepfather to her three children from a previous marriage.

"He's a menace to society, and the longer he's locked up in prison, the safer everyone will be," the woman said. "What sort of monster does that? A monster without a heart and without soul, that's who. ... I truly believe once Mr. Pike gets out of prison, he will reoffend and start hurting children again."

She said that when the FBI came to her door and revealed the allegations against her husband, she realized that "I had inadvertently exposed my children to a child molester."

The former wife said she also pointed out that Pike's soccer coaching and volleyball officiating duties "afforded him easy access to children and the opportunity to molest children."

On Pike's behalf, defense attorney Natasha Norris pointed out in a presentencing court filing that Pike "has a significant history as a victim of sexual abuse that began when he was born and lasted for five years." Norris also contended that Pike has never sexually abused a child but began "to fantasize about it" starting in 2016.

Pike's parents, Ralph and Patty Pike, wrote to the judge asking for mercy at sentencing, describing their son as "extremely generous, honest, a hard worker and dedicated to family and God."

According federal court documents in the criminal case against Pike:

In early 2017, Pike reached out through the Kik messaging application to a man in Alaska who sent Pike sexually explicit images of his 9-year-old daughter and raised the possibility of Pike traveling to Alaska in order to sexually abuse the girl.

In one exchange, Pike asked the man, "So are you truly serious about having another guy interact with your daughter?" The reply: "If the situation presented itself I would."

Pike traveled from Minnesota to Alaska on April 3, 2017, contacted the undercover agent and directed him to bring the girl to an Anchorage motel. The FBI arrested Pike in his motel room.

"Located in the room at the time were a number of candies the defendant brought for [the girl] that had been discussed during the Kik chats with the [undercover agent]," the plea agreement filing read.

Meanwhile, the girl's father was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his long-term sexual abuse of the child, for distributing her image and for offering to let Pike abuse her, according to the Attorney's Office.