OWENSBORO, KY An Indiana man was sentenced yesterday to 6 years and 8 months in prison for traveling to Kentucky to engage in sexual conduct with a minor.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky,Special Agent in Charge Robert Holman of the United States Secret Service Kentucky Field Division, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Commissioner Phillip Burnett, Jr. of the Kentucky State Police, and Chief Art Ealum of the Owensboro Police Departmentmade the announcement.
According to court documents, Bradley Linderman, 36, was sentenced to 6 years and 8 months in prison, followed by a 10-year term of supervised release, for traveling across state lines with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, attempted enticement of a minor, and attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. There is no parole in the federal system.
Linderman used the internet to communicate with an undercover agent he believed to be a 15-year-old girl for the purposes of engaging in sexual conduct. Linderman then traveled from Indiana to Kentucky 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 in the Owensboro area. The United States Secret Service, the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General, the Kentucky State Police, and the Owensboro Police Department investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Spencer McKiness 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 Divisions 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 visitwww.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visitwww.usdoj.gov/pscand click on the tab resources.
Source: U.S. Secret Service