Description: Louisville, Kentucky criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Attempted Online Enticement of a Minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2422.

Kevin O’Donnell, 26, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by a 10-year term of supervised release, for attempted online enticement of a minor. There is no parole in the federal system. O’Donnell used the internet to communicate with an undercover law enforcement officer who he believed to be a 14-year-old girl for the purposes of engaging in sexual contact. O’Donnell then traveled to meet the undercover agent to engage in sexual conduct.

This case was the result of a joint federal, state, and local operation called Operation Angel, aimed at making federal arrests of individuals who preyed upon children. The United States Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jo E. Lawless prosecuted the case.

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 the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc
. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

18 U.S.C. 2422 provides:

(a) Whoever knowingly persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any individual to travel in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, to engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
(b) Whoever, using the mail or any facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce, or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States knowingly persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any individual who has not attained the age of 18 years, to engage in prostitution or any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than 10 years or for life.

Outcome: Defendant was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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Defendant's Experts:

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