Colorado Repeat Child Sex Offender Sentenced to 150 Months for Crossing State Lines
A Colorado man received a 150-month prison term and lifetime supervised release in Utah federal court after traveling from Colorado to St. George to meet someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl. The sentence triggers mandatory federal sex-offender registration and closes one case in a multi-state undercover operation targeting interstate child exploitation.
winnipegfreepress.comST. GEORGE, Utah — A repeat child sex offender from Colorado was sentenced to 150 months in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release after he drove from Colorado to southern Utah intending to have sex with a person he believed was a 13-year-old girl.
The defendant communicated online with an undercover law enforcement officer posing as the minor, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He was arrested upon arrival in St. George. The sentencing occurred today in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.
The 150-month term equals 12.5 years. Federal law requires lifetime supervised release for this offense category, during which the offender must register as a sex offender, submit to periodic polygraph examinations, and comply with strict restrictions on internet use, travel, and contact with minors.
The prior criminal record as a repeat offender directly influenced the guidelines range applied by the court.
The sentence shifts the offender from pretrial status to immediate incarceration at a Bureau of Prisons facility. Upon release he enters supervised release for life, a status that can be revoked for any violation and carries its own federal penalties. The judgment also mandates payment of any applicable special assessment and restitution.
Downstream, the conviction adds one more case to the national count of interstate child sex travel prosecutions handled by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and Homeland Security Investigations. It requires the offender’s information to be entered into the National Sex Offender Registry within three business days of release from prison.
Utah and Colorado authorities must now coordinate on any state-level registration obligations that run concurrently with the federal lifetime supervision. The case also serves as notice to other online predators that multi-state undercover operations continue to produce federal indictments and lengthy sentences.
This prosecution follows the standard template used in federal sting operations conducted under 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b), which criminalizes travel across state lines with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. The Department of Justice has issued similar announcements from multiple districts this year involving defendants who drove or flew to meet undercover officers posing as minors.
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