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Department of Justice United States Attorney David L. Huber Contact: Sandy Focken |
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July 23, 2008
TENNESSEE MAN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS AND TEN MONTHS FOR TRAVELING TO BOWLING GREEN TO ENGAGE IN ILLICIT SEXUAL CONDUCT
– Springfield man sentenced for driving to Bowling Green to meet minor for sex
BOWLING GREEN, KY -Jeremy Todd West A/K/A bandit8077, age 27, of Springfield, Tennessee, was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months imprisonment in United States District Court, Bowling Green, Kentucky, for traveling in interstate commerce with intent to engage in sex with a minor, U.S. Attorney David L. Huber of the Western District of Kentucky announced today.
Honorable Joseph H. McKinley, United States District Judge, also sentenced West to 7 years supervised release following incarceration. There is no parole in the federal judicial system.
West was sentenced pursuant to a plea agreement in which he admitted that on October 20, 2007, he traveled from Tennessee to Kentucky for the purpose of attempting to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a person he believed to be a thirteen year old female. West admitted that, between September 23, 2007 and October 20, 2007, he engaged in online chatting with "all_dat_jazzerz", a person he believed to be a 13 year old female minor, but who in fact, was a member of Perverted Justice and a participant in a Kentucky Bureau of Investigation (KBI), Kentucky Attorney General's Office, undercover sting operation exposing online sexual predators. West, who primarily used his cell phone to text message, was told from the initial internet contact that he was chatting with a thirteen year old female. His response was “u ok with me bein 27?”. West quickly turned the chats to a very graphic sexual nature, where West described desire to have oral sex, vaginal sex, and anal sex with the thirteen year old. West wrote to her that, “I could teach u and pleasure u good in bed”.
Repeatedly throughout the chats West acknowledged the wrongness of this behavior as he stated, “It would be ugly for me if i got caught with u havin sex” and “I know ill go to jail if caught havin sex with u”. West even wrote that he was worried because “...one thing that keeps runnin thru my mind is if i get caught i seen this dateline thing where they are bustin guys with cops tryin to have sex with young kids”. Despite his knowledge that it would be illegal for him to have sex with a thirteen year old, on October 20, 2007, West left his home in the State of Tennessee and drove to Bowling Green in the Western District of Kentucky, for the purpose of engaging in sex with the person he believed to be a 13 year old minor female. When he arrived at what he believed to be the juvenile's residence he was confronted by Chris Hansen, of NBC Dateline. Hansen confronted West with his chat logs , and as West left the residence he was arrested by Warren County Sheriffs.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mac Shannon with significant assistance from the Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. The Kentucky Attorney General’s Bureau of Investigation and the Warren County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.
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