WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A Portland man who traveled to Whatcom County with the intent of sexually abusing a child was sentenced in U.S. District Court Thursday.

Case records state that 49-year-old Dirk Tichgelaar messaged an undercover Homeland Security officer about his desire to rape young girls through a chat room starting in Oct. 2019. The officer pretended he had a 5-year-old daughter and made plans with Tichgelaar to drive from Portland to Whatcom County to set up a meeting between them.

Tichgelaar was arrested on Jan. 25, 2020, when he arrived at the meeting location with an “Elsa” costume from the Disney movie Frozen for the fictitious child. A search of his home recovered a thumb drive with multiple explicit images of children.

Tichgelaar was previously registered as a sex offender in 2005. He will spend the next 25 years in prison followed by lifetime supervised release.

“This is a long sentence, but a necessary one, to protect the community,” U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a Department of Justice press release.